Mind Your Millers

Clearing My Brain and Catching Up

2012-02-05T08:21:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the absence. Even more sorry for the lack of pictures. I have a million pictures from the last few weeks...on my new phone...I have not yet figured out the best way to get said pictures off of the new phone...so you are stuck with these from our recent Valentine's photo shoot (I decided not to do Christmas cards, but to send out photos randomly through the year. If you didn't get a Valentine, don't despair. A random photo card will appear in your mailbox eventually!)

At first I couldn't even get anything that would remotely work...

We've had a crazy busy couple of weeks, starting with the move of our dear friends (the first friends we had here. Sob.). I'm still in denial they're gone. They only live about 30 minutes away and so far I've seen them just as much as when they were here, but I'm still sad.

Then we had our home visit with our social worker as part of our home study. As I'm sure you all can imagine, inviting a social worker to come to your home for the specific purpose of evaluating it and you to see if you pass as being a fit home for more children is incredibly stressful. And even if everyone tells you that you will be fine, you can't help but wonder if their job is finding things wrong, can't they find things wrong anywhere?

I told them to just "look normal..."

After looking in every single room of my house (even storage, even the furnace room, even the garage!), and going over all of our finances (we're talking every penny here), and asking a few more questions, she told us she was very pleased to recommend us for adoption and be part of our process! Yay! Now that it is over, I have to say that I really like our social worker and I almost feel more confident in my parenting now that I have a social worker backing me up with her support!

Some of our favorite moments from the home study:

- Ryan yelling from the bathroom "Miss Peggy, I pooped! Come and see!" And when she, of course, didn't come in, he ran out, jumped around her, and yelled, "I pooped, Miss Peggy! I pooped on the potty!"

- Allie correcting the social worker when she said, "Oh, my gosh." Allie says, "Oh, no! We say 'Oh my goodness.' If you say 'Oh my gosh,' again you will have to go in time out." We have never threatened time out for saying anything other than "Oh my goodness," but Allie apparently felt the need for consequences...

- In a conversation about the colors on his plate, Ryan held up his pea and said, "Green is poopy." Then Ryan and Allie both started proclaiming over and over and over "Go big green is poopy!" See...during the football season, the day that Nebraska beat Michigan State, I taught the twins to say "Go big green is poopy," so that we could call Uncle Logan (my football nemesis), and tell him. The call was never made, the phrase stuck, and I worried about what awkward moment it would come out. I hadn't thought about it coming out during the home study. It was awkward.

Kissy faces. Allie is too eager...Ryan is not eager at all...

At this point, the only thing left in our homestudy is the education portion. There is a lot. 2 books (1 is almost 500 pages), a 10 hour online class, an online seminar, several websites, some worksheets, and some exercises. All while gathering together the last of our paperwork. This is why you haven't heard from us in a while. Every spare moment goes to educating myself about adoption. It is a bit overwhelming. I swing between feeling like I am in way over my head, to feeling so honored that I get to be a part of this amazing thing, to being so incredibly sad about the time I am missing with my children and the things that could be happening to them during that time. It is intense. Thankfully, my personality and parenting style naturally fits with a lot of what is needed in adoption parenting, but it really is a whole different ballgame than parenting bio children (which I hadn't thought much about before). And the balance of both is something I'm glad I have time to consider and "plan" ahead of time. If anyone is interested in reading any of the info to have a better idea of the struggles our children (even if they are perfectly healthy children) will face, and what our lives will look like post-adoption, let me know!

From kissy faces to kisses. Getting better...

And then we swung into Valentines, with a big party for our moms' group at our house, and a fun day for the twins. I'm exhausted. But after tonight we have a few days to rest and regroup (i.e. read like crazy to try to finish our homestudy quickly before anything else requires our brain power). Oh, and Ryan and Allie are crazy cute right now. Doing so many hilarious things. But that will have to be another post...because I'm officially falling asleep and I still have to put the kids to bed!

Perfection! All it took was 200 pictures, bribery with suckers, and Daddy holding the computer over my head with a favorite muppets short playing on youtube!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!

Big Kid Adventures

2012-01-30T09:21:00.003-05:00

Finally, the ultimate reward for successful pottying - a big kid adventure. And what do big kids get to do on their adventures? See Elmo in real life, of course.

After the last post, there was a serious turnaround. In fact, to date, the only accidents they have had since that post (#1 or #2) have been in unusual circumstances...like being at the store with Daddy, in the checkout line, and not making it through the checkout process. I've been truly thrilled with the success (especially Ryan's sudden turnaround with the #2)! And this accident-free week just happened to be 1 of our busiest weeks ever, with activities every day and 2 separate trips to Detroit!

Remember the change they had been saving? I forgot to take them to the bank to trade in their change for cash, so I used their piggy banks. They put all their change in, lifted it up, and there was a $10 bill (taken out of the piggy bank the night before) waiting for them. Let's just say they were less than thrilled to put all of their beloved change into the bank only to have 1 measly piece of paper waiting for them underneath!

Before the show the twins got to pick out what they wanted to buy with their potty money. I was hoping for t-shirt, or something that I could turn into a lasting memento. Ryan chose a cd (very practical, we've listened to it a bunch of times already, and it's a great way to re-live the fun). Allie chose binoculars. Now she has been obsessively asking for a pair of binoculars for about a month, and using as many toys as possible as pretend binoculars in the meantime, so I wasn't surprised by the choice!

With Daddy in front of the stage!

Just before the show started, I had a big mommy fail. We take potties with us in the van when we travel so that we can stop and let them go whenever they need. So, before we went into the theatre, we had them go in the travel potties. I should have known that it would be a good idea to take them to the bathroom before the show, but I didn't. Just as Big Bird announced that there were 3 minutes until the show started, Allie whispered she had to go. Lucas and I debated whether or not we should go, if she was just bored, etc. Then Allie whispered very urgently that she had to go NOW. So we stood up to hurry to the bathroom just as the characters came on the stage. I scooped her up and rushed to the bathroom. I was convinced she would be devastated about missing part of the show, and in my hurry to get her pottied and back I failed to remember that she has an uncanny ability to shoot her pee forward rather than down...which she did...and in my surprise I almost dropped her in the toilet. She was devastated (and a wee bit traumatized), and I was still trying to get her upstairs. It didn't dawn on me until we were back that she was no where near as concerned as I was about not missing the show (in fact, in her mind she missed nothing), and I should have just stayed calm and focused on a pleasant potty experience. Lesson learned.

Elmo & Zoe - their favorite characters!

A couple times the shot out confetti and/or streamers. We were 1 row short of catching the streamers!

The Fabulous 5 superheroes.

The best picture I could get of the whole gang...

They really enjoyed the show. The only downside was that it ended about 20 minutes after their naptime usually starts. So the last 10 minutes they started to get alternately limp and restless. But that night they started telling me all the things they remembered about the show (some details that I didn't even remember!), and I realized that they paid attention the whole time! I'm glad that we made this their first big kid adventure!

All of us before the show

(why is this picture black and white? Because the guy who took the picture kept putting his hand over the flash, and the only way I could brighten the picture enough that you could see, and have it look slightly normal was to make it black and white...)

Another busy week ahead including our home visit from our social worker as part of our home study for the adoption! So you probably won't hear from us again this week...because I will be busy cleaning out every nook and cranny of my house!

Sledding

2012-01-24T13:46:00.002-05:00

We've been very disappointed with the lack of snow so far this winter. In fact, recently Allie told me, "Winter is supposed to bring me snow, but it didn't. Winter is being mean. It needs a spanking. But it is up in the sky, and I can't reach it. Please, Winter, give me snow!" The next day it snowed. We almost immediately invited ourselves over to our friends house to use their perfect sledding hill before they move. Thankfully, they were willing to host our sledding party...even though their daughter hates to sled...

The twins loved it!

Pretty soon they were racing!

It didn't take long for the adults to get in on the sledding action.

Seconds after this picture, she crashed...and I took about a zillion pictures of her trying to get up before I realized she could perhaps use some help. At least I didn't post the pictures of her flailing on the ground here. That should earn back a few friend points?

While the kids never made it this far, all of the adults crashed in the mini-forest.

The only one who somehow managed to pose for the camera...

The best part of the trip? This moment:

My friend didn't know, as she went down the hill, that her daughter failed to let go and was trailing behind her. It turned out to be the best thing. We couldn't coax sweet E onto a sled, but once she went down accidentally, she loved it! She went down a few more times (although not on her stomach...because it wasn't very comfortable)! We were so excited to be part of her sledding breakthrough!

Oh, and it rained the next day and our snow is essentially gone. I'm pretty sure we are going to get blizzards in March.

Post-Potty Party Run-down

2012-01-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

Sick of my Potty Chronicles? Sorry. It turns out this is one of those all-encompassing milestones. Suddenly, your whole world becomes "How long has it been since they last went potty?" and "Do you have to pee-pee or poo-poo?" and "Has she pooped yet today? Is he getting constipated?" and "Are they drinking enough?" or "Maybe they could drink a little less," and so on. Since it has filled our days, it monopolizes the posts here :) But this is the last...I think...I know that the very next post won't be potty related at least!

The morning after Allie's party (Sunday...church day...and we couldn't skip because I had nursery duty) was filled with accidents. In fact, we left for church without anyone actually making it to the potty in time. I was a bit of a wreck. I was exhausted. I was convinced those 2 days were a complete waste. I was wanting to go back to diapers (but we "threw" them away!). I lost it a little. And then we got to church and they both went on the potties there. And then we not only were accident free at church, the other kids in the nursery LOVED the potty practice theme. We sang songs, told stories, played games - all in the bathroom. And then we made it through the rest of the day with success (even poopy!). I started to realize that they were actually doing better than I thought, and I needed to relax. I did, and it hasn't been so bad. We haven't had an accident free day yet, but we've been close, and the majority of the accidents have been understandable (while playing outside or wrestling daddy).

A few things I've learned:

- it seems that potty training is one big trust-building activity. For the twins to stop whatever they are doing to go potty when they need to, I have to come through on my promise that they can go right back and finish. This meant that even though I wanted to go inside in 5 minutes, when Allie said she had to go potty, we went back outside after. Even though the potty process (with full snow gear) took roughly 15 minutes! It has made me enter their world a little more to see what is truly important to them.

- Getting them to sit on the potty long enough to fully do what they need is a challenge. They jump up every few seconds to see if anything is there, and their attention span on the potty is about 10 seconds. I quickly collected an arsenal of tricks to keep them there: reading books, watching potty movies (I'm not proud, but it helps when desperate),

magnets on the bathtub, window cling decorations on the mirror,

games, songs, and (their favorite) the camcorder (I was hoping to post a few videos, but every single one of them had a flash of parts of my children I don't want posted on the internet...and I don't have the time to edit...so they will only be for our eyes). They will sit forever while I record videos of them, and then sit longer to watch said videos! It is my ace in the hole, and I am loving all of the short movies I'm getting. This will be a well-documents phase for sure!

- My children apparently have to go potty every night, 5 minutes after we've put them down for bed. It is the ONLY time of the day where an accident is completely unacceptable, and it will take them 30 minutes to be finished...we are working in adjusting the routine to correct this situation.

- It isn't a guarantee that a girl sitting on the potty will actually hit the potty. At least with a boy, you can teach them how to aim...

- One should never under-estimate how many times a day their children can go potty. I thought I made their potty charts with enough spaces to get us close to their big potty prize (Sesame Street Live), but they filled them 11 days early. But I still needed incentive. So, they "made" banks (empty parmesan cheese and seasoning shakers that they covered in stickers),

and every time they go potty they get to put money in their bank to save for a special surprise when they "meet" Elmo. We save our change. They love to put money in their banks. And we would have wanted to buy something to remember the day anyways - now we are actively saving toward it. It is a win, win, win.

Update: The banks are both about 1/4 full. Like I said, my kids pee a LOT.

I'm learning to stay calm in all situations. A calm mommy usually means everything goes more smoothly. Because I already had 2 days where I didn't open my computer, answer the phone, do anything but be with them, I became slightly detoxed from the usual distractions of the day. Since, I have made a concerted effort to avoid distractions when they are awake and BE with them. Partly to keep an eye out for signs that we need to run to the potties. Mostly because this has been an unmistakeable sign that they are growing up, and I want to know I've cherished the moments to the best of my ability. The fun thing is that, after a day where we played a lot together, the twins have started to invite me to play with them. I like this.

Update: a little over a week after the potty parties, things are starting to settle back into normal life. We have had several consecutive accident free days. We have played outside, gone sledding, played at a friend's house, and been to McDonalds playplace twice (not as regular of an occurrence as it sounds from these posts) all without accidents! Right now, the biggest problem is getting Ryan to poop in the potty. He prefers to wait until he has pull-ups on. I've changed the rules and consequences several times to try to corral him into the potty (such as making it so that I get to pick the underwear he wears after an "accident" so he doesn't get the pleasure of wearing yet another favorite pair of car underwear). He always finds a loophole. I upped the incentive. First I offered a sucker each time they went #2 in the potty. Then the presents were delivered from the family Christmas party we missed, and I told them they couldn't open a present unless they pooped on the potty. Ryan gave me enough little nuggets to technically be able to open each present...and then really went in his pull-ups during naptime. When asked why he said, "I poopied in the potty enough today. I'll try tomorrow." He is an expert at getting around every tactic I try. They should employ preschoolers at law firms. But I remain hopeful. Mostly because I don't know of any teenagers who willingly soil themselves. It has to end sometime!

Allie's Potty Party

2012-01-18T14:50:00.000-05:00

I will start by saying that I learned a few things about Allie's personality during her potty party day that made me confident I would have done it differently had I thought of it. Different in that I would have done her party first. What did I learn? This girl thinks about what is coming and plans ahead. She had thought about her potty party, and was very specific about a few things - namely what she was going to wear. Without hesitation she informed me that she wanted to wear her "polka-dotty princess dress" - she had definitely thought this through. Based on her knowledge of her brother's party, she had high expectations for her day. She woke up way early (and hour and a half earlier than the day before, and an hour before the official "wake-up" time). Lucas and I couldn't figure out why she had a meltdown when we told her she had to go back to bed. Later, I realized that she was expecting a morning like her brother's - we would wake them up excited, get them dressed right away in their room, reveal the party decorations, and send the other away with daddy. Instead, 2 sleepy, grumpy parents told her she had to go back to bed. She was crushed. This was when I learned how quickly her heart breaks when her expectations are dashed to pieces....it was not the first heartbreak of the day. Eventually, the guys were gone (not fast enough for her...more tears), and we got to start the party!

Opening her doll. She was much more excited than her brother. She named her Baby.

Baby is a big girl!

Allie required a lot more activities to keep her engaged in the day - which was ok because a princess theme lent itself to a lot of activities: Painting toenails, coloring princess pictures,

Ballroom dancing,

Princess dress-up,

and all these in addition to the potty books, potty movies, and time spent sitting on the potty (with Baby and with Allie in the afternoon). Being a princess is exhausting :)

At our lunch party celebrating Baby being a "big girl." Allie kept asking me to take ANOTHER picture of her with her eyes closed.

Allie's naptime went MUCH longer than Ryan. He was up by 1, but I had to wake her up at 2:30 to make sure she got enough practice time before the guys got home. She did NOT wake up well, and this affected the success of the afternoon.

Big Girl underwear!!

Showing off her new favorite accessory

note: you might have noticed that she is suddenly wearing a different outfit. She didn't like trying to go potty in her dress, and we had several wardrobe changes before she found something she felt "went" with her cool new underwear.

Putting princesses in her potty chart castle.

There were a couple big hurdles (that I had not anticipated) to overcome. 1) She knew that Daddy & Ryan were coming home with a present, and she would be wearing her big girl underwear to show them. Once she had her underwear, all she could think about was the present (which she had already picked out, and told Daddy - like I said, I planner). 2) She loved all her different underwear, and told me at one point that she liked having accidents because she could pick out a new pair. 3) Once I got her to the potty, it was almost impossible to get her to sit there long enough to do anything. Until I brought out the video camera (with a fully charged battery). She loved making videos and then watching them. Videos like this:

But we had success - she went more times in the potty than her underwear, AND she pooped in the potty (I can already hear her horrified scream when she goes back and reads this as a teenager)!!

They're home! Ryan couldn't wait to give his sister her gift :)

Cinderella!!

(She has decided Cinderella is her favorite princess. I think it might have to do with the fact that Cinderella is blond like Allie, and Allie looks like her when she has her hair up. It has nothing to do with the movies because she has never seen any of them!)

After Allie's big kid party, they got to have a special "No More Diapers" activity where they "threw away" all of their diapers (we'll actually give them away...so let me know if you need size 4 Up and Up diapers!). They sang the "Goodbye Diapers" song from their favorite potty movie (click here to see it, but be warned you will be singing it the rest of the day, and quite possibly in your dreams!)

One of the biggest things that was really hammered into my head was that even though Allie has a strong will/personality, and she often marches to the beat of her own drum, she has a very sensitive spirit. It's a difficult combination because it is easy to forget - when she is wearing crazy clothing combinations, directing her brother/playmates, or doing her own thing and enjoying it - how sensitive she is. But when her heart is broken, it is broken. There is no in the middle. At the end of the day, I really just prayed that God would give me wisdom as I parent her - to build her up when she needs it, encourage the confidence she already possesses, and help her pick herself up and get over the disappointments that frequent the life of a sensitive and particular planner.

Ryan's Potty Party Day

2012-01-17T18:29:00.000-05:00

The morning started out surprisingly well, considering one kid got to have the first potty party (which they had been waiting for forever...forever to an almost 3 year old), and the other had to leave.

Playing with the new road rug we got for the day before Sister had to go.

We got them dressed in their room, brought them out together to see all the decorations, and then Allie & Daddy left and Ryan and I started the day with a special breakfast and the first surprises of the day.

A special new cup for all of the great drinks that day!

He wasn't exactly thrilled about the doll - who he named "Little Einstein."

The day was filled with theme activities - reading potty books, watching potty movies, and (to match Ryan's theme) lots of playing with cars!

The morning is all about training the doll. They learn through teaching. Ryan wasn't the biggest fan. He kept saying things like, "But I can do it too." or "Mommy, I already know that." And he really hated that the doll was getting special treats for going in the potty (Note: since the doll can't eat, Ryan always got the treat anyways), when he was confident he could do the same if I would just take his diaper off. He was itching to be the big boy. And I learned during the morning that special snacks were a big motivator for him. As soon as a snack was finished he was like, "Let's go sit on the potty so I can get something else!"

When he woke up from naptime, there was a present waiting for him (his underwear), and he found out that it was HIS turn to be the big boy.

He was ecstatic. It wasn't long before he went on the potty (I was so surprised that he knew, stopped what he was doing, and then really went). And then he went again. And then again. And then I started to think that this was a breeze, and we might have no accidents at all. It was about then that an accident happened. He was sort of jumping around, and it sort of jumped right out of him (in his defense, part of the process is pumping them full of liquids. During the course of the day he drank 3 16oz. chocolate milks, an 8 oz apple juice, and 16 oz. of water - most of that in the afternoon. And no, I don't always let them drink that much of sugary drinks. It was part of the special day). We had a bit of a poopy incident too, but it was more of a loaded gas situation. He was as surprised as I was!

Playing with the car rug - his favorite activity of the day!

note: once he got underwear, he wouldn't wear pants because he didn't want to cover them up!

By the end of the day he had gone on the potty 8 times (and because of the volume of liquids, every one of them was significant), stopped something he was involved in every time, and really recognized the feeling of "having to go." I would call it a smashing success.

The ubiquitous "on the potty" picture that will horrify him someday...

Some of my favorite moments of the day:

The way he would dance in delight all the way to the kitchen for his "special treat" after going on

the potty.

(my apologies that you actually can't see the dance to the kitchen in this video - even though that was the whole point of taking the video! I discovered that our camcorder battery was dead when I went to take this video - mommy fail - and only had my laptop...which doesn't show me what it sees...so this is the best I've got...but he's still adorable, so I included it!)

The fact that he didn't like juice, or the carbonated water combo that I made. Chocolate milk (and the unexpected hot chocolate that I thankfully had supplies for) was all that he would drink of the "special" drinks.

For his potty chart, he got to move his race car (that he was driving!) around the track and put a cloud of dust. Each time he would say, "Goodbye, diapers! Eat my dust!"

Snuggling with him on the couch while watching potty movies.

Him teaching his toy cars to go potty.

Me saying, "I'm so proud of you! You are such a big boy!" and his response: "I know, mommy. I know."

At the end of the day, Daddy and Sis came back from their special adventure (he couldn't wait to see them...and show off his underwear). They brought a present, and we had some here. We had a party to celebrate that he was officially a big boy. No more diapers!

Watching for Daddy & Sis

Opening his "big boy" presents.

One thing that I got out of the day: Last week, at Bible study, we had to do this exercise where we spent a minute imagining ourselves in the presence of God. We were to imagine Him as a parent, eager to spend time just with us. Then we were to imagine Him saying to us the one thing we needed to hear the most. It was amazing that everyone said that one minute was the most powerful part of Bible study. They had never imagined God as being eager to spend time with them like that. And each person said the one thing they needed God to say was that He was proud of them. There was a moment during the day when I was beaming at Ryan, delighting in my time alone with him, telling him how proud I was of him, and that moment from Bible study came back to me. It was powerful to realize that as much as I was truly loving that moment with Ryan, God loves those moments with me. It made ME feel loved by and closer to God in a way I hadn't before. Completely unexpected during a day of potty training!

Mommy and her Big Boy!

Prelude to a Potty (Training)

2012-01-16T09:58:00.006-05:00

I have found, more than anything in my parenting career thus far, that potty training is a hot button topic. It seems to get the hair bristling of moms more than anything I've encountered thus far. I didn't realize this until I started to talk about the "method" I chose to potty train. I was suddenly hit with comments ranging from the "Your children aren't potty trained yet?!" to the "You're potty training them already?!" from the "I would never put that much work into it, you know you don't have to," to the "You have to put more work than just one day. It takes weeks. This won't work, you'll see." The most shocking thing was that so few of the comments I received were positive. I kept thinking, "Have I ever been this un-supportive of another mother? Or this competitive? Or this discouraging?" It felt so often that they were responding defensively - like the "method" I chose somehow made them feel like it was a judgement on the method they chose (or planned to choose). I liked what the author of the potty training book I read said, "As all mothers with toddlers discover, this is a universal, yet unspoken truth. If we get through the experience relatively unscathed, or at least with no facial ticks, we can silently conclude we are good mothers."

- Teri Crane "Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day."

So before I post about the potty party days, I wanted to say this:

In the end, I really don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" method to potty train (outside of

abusive methods, which I shouldn't have to qualify, but somehow feel the need regardless).

Children are so unique that I don't think one age, method, reward can be broadly applied to all children as "right." I think every parent has to know their child and, perhaps more importantly, themselves. I picked the method from this book for many reasons, but the main was that this

book got me EXCITED about potty training. It sounded fun. It fit my personality to a T. I kept thinking, "There is no method more perfectly suited to anyone, than this is to me." I figured that

if I had fun, they would have fun, and if they had fun it would be a success! Do I think that every mom needs to plan a theme day for the kids to be successfully potty trained?

No.

Do I think every mom needs to decorate and transform their children's potties?

No.

I did it because I like doing those things, and it didn't feel like a lot of work because I had fun. I don't feel that the overall result is much different than that of anyone doing any other method, but I enjoyed all the steps. So, I would encourage any mom to potty train however they feel most comfortable and in whatever way will reduce their stress! I feel much more strongly about moms sticking together and supporting each other in whatever way possible through the work of potty training, then I do about what method someone chooses!

Some things that I did like about this book that I would recommend to any parent potty training with any method? She goes through ALL of the steps of going to the potty (from recognizing you have to go, to undressing from the waist down, to washing their hand by themselves), and gives you a list of "pre-requisites" that you can work on ahead of time so that the skills surrounding going to the bathroom are already in place and you can focus on JUST going in the potty that day. I loved this. Months ahead of time the twins started working on undressing and dressing themselves, washing their hands on their own, and even wiping (after I had cleaned their poopy bums, of course). It did make the day go A LOT smoother to have so many things already in place. Plus, it helped build the hype because I would tell them, "You are learning a new skill that will get you closer to your "No More Diapers" day!"("no more diapers" is from a favorite book that we've had since they were little). They loved learning new things and knowing they were getting closer to the much-awaited day!

Washing their hands:

get the hands wet, get some soap (one hand underneath to catch, one hand on top to push it out), scrub while singing "Happy Birthday" twice (don't forget to scrub between the fingers!), wash all the soap away, dry your hands completely.

The biggest thing I will say I gained from this method? At the core is an entire day just you and the child being trained - no sibling, phones, computers, non-related projects, or visitors. The day alone with my children, just focus on them and celebrate a new milestone was incredible.

I wouldn't trade those 2 days for anything in the world.

Since there were 2 days completely focused on them, and I've been devoting all of their awake time to paying attention to them and their need-to-potty signs, I'm currently trying to catch up on housework, needing to get groceries, and figuring out our new routine as we navigate the potty world. So it might take me a while to get up each of the potty party posts (I took so many pictures...there are a million to go through...which will also take forever). But they are coming!

Little Adventures

2012-01-08T11:35:00.004-05:00

I have a busy week ahead, so I decided to take advantage of a short break today to quickly throw some photos on the blog of what we've been up to (because I won't be posting again for a week or so. Sorry, Grandparents). The pictures aren't fabulous...because I had my camera on the wrong setting...and I didn't want to take the time to edit.

We've had unusually warm weather. It has been a bit disappointing because we want snow! But I won't complain about the sunshine. I'm loving the sunshine! We did get out and enjoy the little bit of snow, from a brief storm, before it melted!

One of the twins' favorite activities is looking for tracks in the snow. They try to guess what animal it was (they are usually convinced it is an alligator), and then follow the tracks to see where it went.

The tracks. I guessed rabbit...since we have a rabbit who frequents our yard.

They still love hugging the trees...

Another favorite adventure - searching for treasure in the bushes!

Collecting rocks.

Admiring the Holly berries.

Note: Have I ever mentioned how much I love this holly tree? We previously lived on holly street. The street had been named (which is a totally separate long story) by our landlord's wife when they lived in that house years earlier. She picked the name because of the holly bushes that lined the yard. I loved that bit of history that was part of their home there, and finding a holly bush in our yard here made me feel more at home when we first moved!

It even warmed up enough that we made a trip to the park (and the kiddos were so over-bundled that they kept shedding items so as not to over-heat!).

So happy to be at the park!

Peek-a-boo!

He would stop to smile at me every time he went down the slide!

Somebody push me!

Our friends joined us at the park. We've mentioned them before. The one's we were hoping we could convince not to move. No such luck. Their house sold and they leave at the end of the month. We were thankful for one last joint trip to the park (with them as residents...surely they will come back to visit and go to the park with us...right?).

Me & Baby J

Notice the giant envelope in my pocket? That is our application for our homes study! We picked it up from our mailbox on the way!!

Yup, they still fit this way...barely...

The twins love playing the piano, but get frustrated that they can't work the pedals like I do when I play. They found a solution to this problem:

I think this adorable...but it did occur to me that I'm in trouble if they ever realize they can do the same thing in the car!

I'm gearing up for potty parties this week! I will definitely be posting about these...next week...after the exhaustion is over :)

Snapshot in Time

2012-01-04T13:08:00.000-05:00

While we were going through all the posts of last year, we discovered that our favorites were the snapshots where I included current favorites and funny things. More than any other posts it made us stop and go, "Oh, yeah! I remember that!" So I decided to do another. Especially because it allows me to use some of the "snapshots" I take to practice and play with my camera. I got a photography e-book for Christmas...so I might have a lot of these photos :)

Favorite Book:

Ryan: You have 3 Cars books. You are pretty

much obsessed with all things Cars, so these are your favorites. You take them to bed every night, and if we come in before you're asleep we always find you with your flashlight poring over every picture. You've had them over a month and never get tired of them!

Allie: You prefer to choose a different book every night, but your frequent favorite is a Trucks book. You really love trucks.

Both: Too Pickley, Too Purpley, and the Llama Llama books. You just got them for Christmas and we have to read them every day!

Favorite Phrases:

Ryan:

"That'd be good." - You say this when I suggest something you would like to do or when you are suggesting something to me. "We should play downstairs, Mommy. That'd be good."

"Awwwww!" - Apparently I have done this a lot. He says this when he sees (in pictures or real life) babies, animals, and his sister after naptime!

Allie:

"It hurts Allie's feelings." - I was trying to explain how mean actions (taking toys, hitting, fighting, etc.) hurt other's feelings. Since we want to show others, especially each other, Jesus' love, we shouldn't do things that are hurtful. It took Allie about 2 days to start using this to her advantage. Now anything we do that she doesn't like (such

as tell her that she can't watch any more tv) "hurts her feelings."

Both:"Its my favorite!" - You love superlatives. It might be a toy, a book, a song, or a really

bad idea (lining the cushions and pillows on the floor and then jumping off the furniture onto them). You have a lot of favorites!

"I do it myself!" - It shouldn't be a surprise. Isn't that what the end of the Two's and the beginning of the Three's are all about? You love doing things on your own and asserting your independence. Each day you get a better sense of your expanding coordination, motor control, and strength, and you love trying out new things. I just have to remember to keep encouraging you when you have difficulty and yell, "You do it, Mommy! Too hard!" Stay calm. Keep trying. You can do anything if you just keep trying. Those are some of my most popular phrases right now!

You are full of energy and imagination. My favorite thing is how we can go outside and the fort with the slide becomes a pirate ship, a school bus, or a tow truck. Your beds frequently turn into airplanes, boats, or hot air balloons. You can't get out of the bathtub because you are swimming to Nebraska (which would truly be a feat since it is landlocked!), and you can't leave the playroom because you are too busy having an adventure. Your play times have become so much fun!

End of the Year Adventure

2012-01-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

One of the exciting things about the week after Christmas was that Lala & Baby Hugsy were coming from Texas, and were going to spend a few days at our house! Then a terrible stomach bug hit me...and then Allie...and it was decided that they probably should stay elsewhere. The sickness passed (thankfully quickly), after a day or so it seemed like no one else was going to get it, and we decided to go a night early to the family party and spend the night in a hotel to get a little extra time with them. It was very spur of the moment (we checked into the hotel less than 24 hours after having the idea), and the twins were so excited about our special adventure!

My adorable nephew.

Playing with Hugsy.

A happy Nana.

A proud uncle.

We filled the afternoon/evening with a bunch of mini-adventures. Seeing Lala, Nana, & Poppy, playing with Hugsy, riding the hotel "alligator" (elevator).

He insisted Linny come along for the adventure.

Pressing the buttons is their favorite part.

It made me a little sad that Ryan started saying "elewator" instead of alligator while we were there. Just another of the baby things falling away...

Swimming at the hotel pool was the big highlight they looked forward to all evening. They were so thrilled!

I love this picture of them dancing in the water.

Ry-guy liked to walk all the way to the other end of the pool to jump to me and then swim to the front. This is him walking "slow like a turtle."

We practiced some of the things we learned in swim lessons this past summer. Their favorite was being "monkeys" along the wall. They would hang on with their hands and move across the wall - eventually without us holding them! They loved showing off this skill :)

Making monkey sounds.

Daaaad, I know what I'm doing. Let me go by myself already!

Eventually, big kids came, and Allie was shivering, and the chlorine was bothering me too much, and we had to go

Wrapped in their towels and watching the big kids.

That night I was so nervous. The chlorine really agitated my lungs, and I was worried it did the same for them. I kept checking on them and couldn't sleep. I finally fell asleep, and about an hour later Ryan was awake and crying. He said his throat hurt (I thought it was the chlorine). He sad he didn't feel well (I thought it was the chlorine). And then he threw up, and I realized he had the nasty bug. Despite the night of little sleep, and the adventure ended way early with us checking out and heading home before the party, the twins still talk about how it was such a fun adventure (and how they are like little fishies!). The nasty bug hit Lucas on New Years day, so hopefully we are done with the sickies for a while!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-31T22:46:00.000-05:00

It took me a while, but I finally got all the pictures from Christmas uploaded to the blog (I accidentally put them on different computers, making that task a lot more difficult than it should have been), pared them down to fewer than my 30 favorites, and finished this post...and backdated it so that it forever appears in the right year :)

PRESENTS FOR JESUS:

Isn't it always the way that our children, in their innocence and honesty, teach us? I made sure that the first book we opened was one that talked about why we give, receive, open presents on Christmas. I talked to them about how each gift is meant to remind us of the greatest gift - Jesus. They are big into birthday parties right now, and so they turned to me and asked, "But if it is Jesus' birthday, what will we give him?" Hmmm...good question. I asked them for their ideas (they thought a book would be best), suggested it was something to think about, and put them to bed (secretly hoping they would forget...because I was convicted...and I didn't want to be). They didn't forget, and between that being a popular topic of conversation in the next few days, and this article, I was pushed over the edge of conviction. We needed to give Jesus something for His birthday. The twins and I decided that showing Jesus' love would be the best gift. I asked them what they wanted to do to show Jesus' love for Christmas and Ryan responded, "Paint cards for the Grandpas and Grandmas." We take them to the Assisted Living where our church does quarterly services. We had just been there, and the kids really liked the idea of a bunch of Grandparents to love on them :) So they painted cards. Lots. And then I sent them to the nursing home (I was a wee bit selfish and sent them to the one in MA where I used to work). In the cards was this picture:

I wish I could show my favorite out-takes from the photo shoot...but there were too many :) I'm so thankful my children were thoughtful enough to want to give to others. Lucas and I will do a better job for future years of thinking of ways to give to Jesus for His birthday!

CHRISTMAS EVE:

I love Christmas Eve. I'm still working on our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We've tried a few things each year, but I want something that we have every year that my children always connect with Christmas Eve. This year we did White Chili. It was easy (throw everything into the crock pot - totally what I'm looking for since we generally have a lot going on that day), but I'm not sure it's the meal I want. Suggestions would be appreciated...

Then off to our Christmas Eve service at church. It is one of my favorite services - the music, the message, the candle-lighting at the end. This was the first year I was able to be in the entire service because the kids were SO good (a few notes I want to remember: them crunching on the candy canes they got during the children's message. They didn't know to LICK them. Allie singing, and when I told her she needed to stop and be quiet she responded, "But Allie LOVES to sing!" Ryan lying on his stomach, below the pews, coloring. Allie almost falling asleep half in the aisle.). Another favorite thing, the last few years both of our families (or the majority of both) have been there! This year, my SIL's parents also came! So fun.

After, everyone came back to our house for the cousins to open presents.

See all the different family members there? Best part of Christmas.

Allie feeding H some of the (fake) grapes we gave them.

Allie & Ry-guy playing with the toys they gave their cousins.

D checking to see if there is anything she missed!

Nana & Poppy with ALMOST all of the grandchildren

note: this isn't the best of the pictures, but I really love what Allie is doing in this one, so it might be my favorite :)

Afterwards, my parents, my brother, Lucas and I got everything ready. Presents wrapped, food started, It's A Wonderful Life watched (as you can see in the picture).

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Before church, the twins opened their stockings. They are young enough that unwrapping takes for-ev-er, so I didn't want to even try to unwrap everything AND get to church on time! It worked out because they weren't even interested in opening presents. They thought they were all for Baby Jesus! The only stockings thing got funny at church though. Lucas asked all of the kids to bring their favorite present for the children's message. My children showed up with magnets and toothpaste...granted they really LOVE brushing their teeth, so it was a legitimate favorite. But everyone definitely laughed when Allie held proudly lifted up the tube and yelled, "Toothpaste!"

After church we ate. Then the kids napped. Then they had snack. Then we opened presents (it was almost 4 before we really got started. I think my kids might be the only ones in the world who said, "After I finish my snack." in response to, "Are you ready to open presents?" Once they got started, they were so excited though!

From Nana & Poppy - a really cool table. I'm so excited!

Unwrapping.

Among their favorite gifts: backpacks from Nana & Poppy, a playhouse they can color from us, and guitars from Papa & Gigi. My favorite quote from Ry-guy: "A guitar! I wanted one all my life!"

Jamming with Daddy & Uncle Matt.

Today the Christmas decorations have started to come down. Another Christmas is officially over. Allie keeps saying things like, "Not THAT Christmas tree! It's my favorite decoration in the whole world!" It makes me sad that it is making them sad. BUT, now it is a new year and there are plenty of adventures waiting for us!

Top 10 of 2011

2011-12-31T08:46:00.001-05:00

For the 3rd year in a row, one of our favorite annual traditions is our Top 10 blogs of the past year. It combines my love of reminiscing with Lucas' love of Top 10 lists :) 2011 did not fail to disappoint with plenty of Top 10 options...and so, as is our annual tradition, we will actually showcase more than 10 by doubling up. At least we are consistent. Click on the highlighted words to take you to the posts and on a walk down Miller Memory Lane.

10. Nebraska joins the Big 10...and our family stays intact...until next year...

9. 'Til We Meet Again - Not every big event of the year can be happy, but we hold onto the joy in sadness. For all those we have loved and lost this past year and before. Praise God we will meet again!

8. Our new park! Since the twins are still doing things like pretending to build a park like Papa or saying things while they swing like, "Mommy, remember when Papa and Poppy and Daddy built our new park?" I would say this was a big event!

7. Lucas' ordination - it isn't every day one of us makes it into the Top 10, but this was once-in-a-lifetime big.

6. Our Summer Trip - Long Island (5 years in a row with these friends!!) and Boston (we couldn't feature all the posts from this trip, although we loved them all. But the title of the one we picked says it all).

5. BIG family additions! Our Nephew and shortly after a new Sister! YAY!!

4. A Leap of Faith - Officially telling bloggy world about our call to adoption. There have been follow ups. Latest news is that we hope to start the home study process in January (earlier would be better...we'll keep you posted).

3. In a year FILLED with twinner milestones, we couldn't decide which should be included. We went with Big Kid Beds (mommy still sheds an occasional tear) and their First Christmas Program (wayward puppy and all)!

2. A Hospital Visit more traumatic for Mommy & Daddy than anyone else!

1. Let's face it, a Snapshot in Time of our children and another Birthday under our belts are always going to rank #1 with Mommy and Daddy!

But wait! There's more! I normally don't include pictures, but I had some Christmas pictures that I wasn't sure could make it into the already gigantic Christmas post (that, quite frankly, I'm not sure I'll ever get done). So here are a few pictures (which is a new addition to the Annual Top 10)

If it weren't for the sunspot, this was the best shot of the 2 of them.

I tried to use our homemade wrapping paper as a backdrop. They preferred curtains for a grand entrance (or peek-a-boo)!

I seriously can't get enough of these bright baby blues!

But wait! There's more! One last post that was too cute to exclude (ok, so really, you're lucky I didn't just include links to all 100 from this past year...)!

How Great is This?!

Happy 2012 to everyone! May it be a year filled with blessings!!

100 Posts

2011-12-28T07:26:00.002-05:00

I was going to try to do an even 100 posts for the year 2011, but I'm going to end up going over. So, for the 100th post, an adorable video. The twins at their best - doing one of their favorite things, working together, and having a blast :)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-12-27T11:14:00.002-05:00

Lucas' birthday is right before Christmas. This means that sometimes it gets a little lost in the shuffle. Earlier in the year, Lucas joked that he wanted me to plan a party for him like I do for the kids. "You want a theme party too?" I joked back. And then I decided I would do one! It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the kids really enjoyed it.

Basketball! Because I already had a lot of things around the house to pull it together, and it is his favorite thing to play with the kids.

I took the twins to the store to get presents for Daddy. They were very specific about what they wanted to get him. Candy (Allie picked gummy bears and Ryan picked sour gummy worms. Both favorites of Daddy...and them). And pop (or Daddy's special juice...which probably sounded a bit fishy to the other people in the store...). I got Lucas some laundry bins. Sounds like the worst gift ever, but we have a laundry control issues, and it drives Lucas nuts more than anything. We've had trouble finding a solution that would work. So I carefully thought out a system, purchased some bins that would work, painted on them with a little chalkboard paint (so we can write what goes into them, but change it if needed), and he is thrilled! He says I gave him the gift of a happy, organized home :)

A scoreboard themed banner.

Food is a big part of our birthdays. For breakfast we made monkey bread, and for dinner I made his favorite meal - Gleasons. They are like dumplings, and they are a "Grandma" specialty. I have avoided making them for years (lets just say that my attempts at her homemade bread resulted in a lot of "This doesn't taste like Grandma's. What did you do wrong?" But I decided to try it this year. And I invited his brother and H over to enjoy the gleasons with us (before I thought through the possibility of them not turning out...). Thankfully, they tasted ok. I even made homemade bread (a different recipe than grandma's though. I just can't compete with her homemade bread!) He loved the dinner. And it was so fun having some family to surprise him and celebrate his birthday with us! Too bad I was so busy with the gleasons that I forgot to take pictures...

With Daddy before bedtime.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We love you so much!

Christmas Program

2011-12-23T06:59:00.000-05:00

This year the twins participated in their very first church Christmas program! I was so excited. At first I thought they were just going to sing "Away in a Manger" at the end. But they ended up having parts! The play featured the gospel parallels found in classic Disney stories. The first featured was "Snow White," and the "little kids" were the dwarfs!

Allie was convinced the Mic was for her...

Ry-guy exiting. He calls this his "Hi-Ho" costume.

The kids were featured again in the "101 Dalmatians" where they played the dalmatians. My children refused to wear the puppy ears...

Allie reaching for the Microphone again. This time her friend, E, stepped in.

Ry-guy found a spot, and stayed. He picked one where he could rest his head and be comfortable.

Sometimes he was joined by H (yes, their cousin got to be in the play with them! So much fun to see them up there all together!).

Sometimes he was joined by Allie (who was all over the stage, so it wasn't surprising that she bounced up there).

They exited for the last skit. And then had to return at the end to sing a few songs. Allie snuck through the door a little early for some solo time on stage...

All the kids singing "Away in a Manger" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

Allie sang loudly the whole time.

Ryan didn't sing at all.

H sang some of the time.

So they all balanced out :)

They couldn't stop playing with their shirts.

Before the play, we talked about how we should stand up front. In one spot. Not on the floor. Not running around and not playing with anything. Before we went in, Ryan said to me, "Mommy, I will listen, and stand still really well." He did. Perfectly. Allie was another story. She was all over. She would dance down the aisle, and then back up. She was in the choir loft. She sat in the chairs behind the pulpit. She sat on the stairs. It was both frustrating and comical :) And so, here is a game I like to call "Where's Allie?"

Where's Allie?

There she is!

Still don't see her? Check the choir loft.

Where's Allie?

There she is!

Yup. My child was the only one that had to be carried off-stage.

While the little kids (especially my kids) added a bit of unpredictability to the play, they also added a lot of humor :) Plus, I love it when they get to participate in church activities, and feel an active part of the church family.. And I love that our church family welcomes their unpredictability.

Christmas Adventure

2011-12-19T17:55:00.004-05:00

I'm behind. I have more posts coming. But for some reason Blogger is doing weird things when I'm signed in (and I can never remember Lucas' password), so I haven't been able to post. But here are some pictures from our most recent Christmas adventure!

We went to see the Nite Lights like last year. This year, I was far more prepared and had my camera with me! We drove through the lights (I couldn't get any decent pictures, but believe me, it is amazing. Their website shows some of the display, but it doesn't even come close. Some of them look like they are moving, some are choreographed with music. It is an entire fairground full of lights. We love it. You end at the Winter Wonderland where we managed to sneak in another train adventure! Only you can't see the train in any of the pictures, because I was sitting on it...but it was a short train ride around a little loop where you got another view of some of the lights.

"It's the Music Nativity!"

Ryan's favorite display - the grandstand covered with lights that were choreographed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Ryan loves all their music)

A snowman!

Then we got to pet the real live reindeer! The twins think they are so cool. They've been talking about reindeer ever since.

They have a big Christmas tree festival with lots of trees to walk through. Allie was in love with the fake snow. She played in it, sat in it, took fistfuls of it and threw it in the air...

They also had a puppet show. This was their favorite last year, so we were excited for them to see it this year.

At first they were both really excited.

But one of the puppets is a grinch-looking cyclops...and Ryan wasn't a big fan. He spent the rest of the puppet show like this:

Ooops. Oh, well. The twins kept saying "That was a wonderful Christmas Adventure!" So I would say it was an overall success. If you live in our area, you have to check this out. Seriously, I think it might be one of our favorite annual traditions!

Sensing a Theme

2011-12-09T13:33:00.003-05:00

Ok, a few pictures of our Christmas decorations. Not because you asked. Or even because you care. But because I've been sick since we got home, and decorating is pretty much the only thing I have managed to accomplish all week, and I want to show it off!

The tree!

The twins and I hung snowflakes up all over - in their room, by the front door, and on the random bar hanging up in our living room!

My favorite addition! Our piano!

The twins' tree. They decorated it pretty much all by themselves (I put on the lights, higher ornaments, and bow at the top).

Please, notice the incredible amounts of tinsel. They like the sparkle and they could put it on by themselves, so I let them go to town :)

But the most beloved decoration in our house?

The train.

I would say that, if we were to pick a theme for this Christmas, it would be trains. It was un-intentional. First we got out our toy train from last year - which has been a favorite toy since it came out! Then we went and saw the trains at the living nativity - cementing their love. The train under the tree? It has become their favorite thing.

Stop!

Giving rides.

Yes...this derailed the train...

I don't mind the theme. I think its great that they love trains. I always liked them too :) I do feel a little badly that this is where it ends. I have have no more fabulous train surprises up my sleeve. Had I known the train under the tree would be SUCH a huge hit, I might have saved it for closer to Christmas!

There Are These 2 Kids...

2011-12-07T06:01:00.000-05:00

...and I'm pretty crazy about them.

They make my world go 'round.

They come hopping into my arms and proclaim, "Mommy, I LIKE you!" and I melt.

They dance over to me, give me the biggest hugs, and say, "Mommy, I'm so happy I have you!" and it makes me so happy I almost burst.

Their laugh makes me laugh. Their tears make me sad. Their enthusiasm fills my days with excitement and joy.

Life before them was good. Life with them is incredible.

I'm so thankful I get to be their mom! What a blessing!

December Adventures

2011-12-06T10:00:00.001-05:00

Our December has already been quite full...I just haven't had a camera to capture much of it! Between my adventures in trying to charge the stupid camera battery to my cell phone being lost in Nebraska, I've been really at a loss. Borrowing Lucas' phone...when he is around...has had to suffice.

For starters, this is one of the things that I'm most excited about this year. A couple years ago I read about (and LOVED the idea of) a tradition where they read a different Christmas book each night leading up to Christmas. The problem was that we didn't have enough books. I have been slowly collecting each year, but figured it would still be a couple years before we had enough. Then I was reading one of my favorite blogs, and she had a post about her book advent calendar. Not only did it seem like a great way to combine a tradition I thought would be awesome with my lack of an advent calendar, but she also had the suggestion of using the library to fill in the gaps until you build your Christmas stash. Genius! I wrapped each of the books and we are already having so much fun!

The best part was that, the first night, I was trying to explain to them why we were doing this. I said, "Today is the first day of December. Do you know what that means?" Without missing a beat Ryan said, "Christmas-time!" Surprised, but trying not to show it, I said, "Do you know what we celebrate at Christmas?" Allie chimed in with "Jesus' birthday!" I was floored. I had never sat down to talk about this with them, but they picked it up somehow. I got all choked up. They are getting so big! So we call this tradition our "Countdown to Jesus' birthday!" They are doing pretty well with not opening the entire basket full of wrapped books when I'm not paying attention...and they certainly keep perfect track of whose night it is to open the book!

I was expecting a lazy Friday night, but Lucas was in the mood to do something festive. He suggested the Living Nativity at the local campground. We decided we didn't have enough time to do the whole hayride through the Living Nativity (Lucas had a meeting), but they have an indoor portion with hot chocolate, decorate your own cookie, yummy treats like popcorn and roasted nuts, AND model trains!!!

The twins were in love! Not only did they stand they spend the majority of our 40 minutes there watching the trains, but even yummy snacks could barely pull them away (but we had to because other kids wanted to see too)!

I thought it would be fun for the twins to have their own little tree in their room, so while we were out shopping, I took them over to pick one out. I have always secretly wanted one of the shiny, colored trees. They are so delightfully tacky :) I was thrilled when that was what the twins picked (because kids can pick out tacky, and its just cute)! But they couldn't decide on a color. Allie wanted purple, Ryan wanted blue, no one wanted to compromise. Then I looked up and saw mini trees - 2 were the same price as one of the size we were looking at! So they each got their OWN tree in the color they wanted! They are so thrilled!

For our main Christmas tree, we went and got a real one this year! We weren't going to. I had a plan where we would save our money and use the fake one we were given last year until the twins were old enough to remember and appreciate the experience of getting a live one. Then we discovered that we only packed half of our fake tree stand (and couldn't find the other part). Since we didn't have a tree that could stand up on its own, and the twins seem to be really clued into Christmas this year, we decided to spring for the live one. But, Lucas and I had no clue what we were doing. And we went on their busiest day of the year. And it was a bit of a disaster. But there was a kind lady who walked us through the different trees, and the process. It was late in the day, so we decided to go for one of the pre-cuts rather than do the wagon ride out to the field to cut our own. We decided to save that part of the experience for next year :) Because of the craziness, and us feeling out of place, we only got one picture...the kids with Santa.

Their very first picture with Santa!

They were very unsure about Santa. Who wouldn't be? At the time, I was thinking that there was no other circumstance in which I would encourage my children to endear themselves to (let alone sit on the lap of) a strange man who was trying to earn their affection by offering them candy! They didn't sit on his lap, but they got close enough to get this picture. They now refer to Santa as "the guy that gives them suckers." This could lead to future disappointment should another Santa offer them anything else!

Getting the tree in the house was an adventure. It was too fat for the tree stand. And then when we got it upright, the top branch brushed the ceiling! Our tree that had been one of the "small" ones at the tree farm had to have the top branch cut down in order to put on a topper! Yikes! Then the majority of our lights from last year didn't work, so we had to go buy new lights. I half expected a squirrel to be living in there!

The twins helping decorate the tree.

They tended to bunch up the balls in one spot so the tree looked like this:

We finally got our tree decorated (sorry, no after pictures...yet. My camera is currently full of some other pictures...). I was surprised to discover that we had enough ornaments to fill the whole giant tree! And our little tree (decorated almost entirely by the twins...pictures to come later, I'm sure). I was also surprised to realize that we have 5 Christmas trees of varying sizes in our house! At least it looks festive! It has been really fun having the twins help decorate this year. It is taking me so much longer, but I love pulling out a box and asking them where things should go, and letting them put the things they can't break wherever they want. Decorating was one of my favorite traditions growing up, and I love that they can finally be a part of that now!

Hope your Decembers are full of festive celebration too!

Thanksgiving!

2011-12-02T20:55:00.007-05:00

I'm actually going to start with the day before Thanksgiving...because I finally got the pictures from Lucas' phone. Why were the pictures on Lucas' phone? Because I discovered my camera battery had died when I went to take the following pictures. The camera battery is still dead because I keep forgetting that it is dead until I'm trying to take another picture...

Anyways, remember the combine? Well, my family's business also deals with some pretty large farm machinery, and once Papa heard that the twins were into such things, he promised our next trip to Nebraska would include the opportunity to climb in one. He delivered! We got a tour of the brand new building (that is almost finished). I have to say, it was pretty cool, for me, to see the building alone. My grandpa and his brother started the business, and it is amazing to know how it began, see how far it has come, and think, "The people I love did this." Anyways, in the shop there was a big sprayer, so Papa took each twin up for a chance to "drive."

Ry-guy, so focused!

"Come on, Papa. How do you REALLY start this thing?"

To show you what they were actually in and give you an idea of the size. Oh, wow. Cool, cool. To quote the twins :)

Now to Thanksgiving day. I still can't figure out how it worked, but my camera took a bunch of pictures (part of the reason I wasn't prepared for the battery to be dead at the reception, when I would have loved to have taken pictures of the twins playing with my cousins). Mostly outside. Nic & Ariel were kind enough to take the twins out (in the beautiful weather) and play. I tagged along for pictures, but they did all the work. Huge props to them. I was actually feeling miserable and trying to pretend I didn't. This was a welcome break!

A ladybug ball!

While they aren't in focus (as they were in other similar pictures), this was the only one where you could see the smiles on both their faces. They were having so much fun! Allie loves her uncles, but she seemed to especially have Uncle Nic wrapped around her finger. I know he would probably deny it, but I found that she frequently went to him when she wanted something that she knew Daddy or I were likely to refuse...and he usually gave it to her without hesitation.

Ryan seemed equally enamored with Aunt Ariel. While he had a tendency to act shy in her presence, whenever she was gone he was asking for her. She was the one he wanted to make sure he hugged before bedtime (or show his cool cars underwear). She has a loyal fan :)

Playing normal catch wasn't enough. They transitioned to passing the ball over the bushes!

Buses don't drive in bushes? Are you sure?

The classic ring and dash...only they didn't dash and nobody answered!

It started to get a little too silly, and then we went inside to eat.

I imagine that none of my family is going to love that I am posting these pictures of them passing the plate, but they are the only pictures I got of them the entire week I was there. So I am posting them anyways!

My mom always managed to hide...

When we couldn't have Thanksgiving with our families, we had a tradition of having Thanksgiving with friends who became like family. We were lucky enough to be able to skype with them in the afternoon. If we couldn't be with them in person, it was good enough. I'm thankful for dear friends, wonderful family, and all the time I get to spend with them making memories. I am so blessed.

the twins just weren't quite sure...

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Catching Up

2011-12-01T10:51:00.004-05:00

I'm woefully behind on Thankfuls. Basically, we traveled, and then we got sick, and then I stayed sick. I'm beginning to despair of ever being able to take a full, deep breath ever again. I'll be fine. I've just reached the over-dramatic stage of sickness :) To make matters worse, I didn't document our thankfuls very well in the moment to record here later...I sent myself text messages...when I remembered (which was only 3 or 4 times)...and then I lost my phone in Nebraska. So, I will speed record what I can remember, and resolve not to make the same mistakes next year!

Ryan & Allie's Day with E - while we were at the game.

Ry & E in the closet...they have a tendency to like to go off together...alone...a problem if this continues into the jr. high years...

November 17th, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Cars Jammies - he loves those things.

Allie: My flashlight. We had just bought a couple of these, and the twinners are in love. Me too. I want to go back for another dozen!

Kim: Uncle Duck (and Aunt Duck?) - who let us crash at their house while we waited for my parents' plane to arrive.

$1 parking - at the airport. A delightfully small airport where you can watch the planes. We decided to park & go in to meet Papa & Gigi. Quite possibly the best dollar I've spent ever.

Safe travel for my parents!

In the interest of catching up, I'm leaving Lucas off from now on. He does a "Thank You" book of 5 things he's thankful for every night, and always had trouble narrowing it down to 1 for the blog anyways!

Playing "Wonder Pets" - E knows what to do!

November 18, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Gigi

Allie: Papa - it helped that Papa & Gigi were right there doing bedtime with us when we asked!

Kim: My dad fixing our house. Especially since he never gave us any projects in his house to do in return (which was supposed to be the deal). Thanks, Dad!

Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, We're on our way...

November 19, We Are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: I forgot to ask, but I have to assume they were thankful for an awesome day at E's house!

Kim: I was certainly NOT thankful for the outcome of the game. But I certainly was VERY thankful for dear friends who watch my kids for an entire day, think up lots of great activities to keep them entertained, and take pictures so I can see all the fun they had!

Ryan protecting the stuffed Wonder Pets that E has. They ended up having to hide them from him because he got a little too protective...

November 20, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: I totally forgot to ask. In my defense, I had been up most of the night with a sick kid...yes...this was when the plague began...

Kim: The Twilight books. The day before, upon mentioning that I had actually never read them, my brother's mother-in-law loaned them to me. They are like candy - quick to read, hard to leave alone, and delightful. I read the whole series in 4 days...much to the dismay of my husband...

Playing outside!

November 21st, We Are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: This was a day that I didn't record well. I know they were thankful for something...I just can't remember and don't have my phone...

Kim: Safe travels, a quick and easy trip (ok...13 hours isn't quick...but it could have been worse), and my first taste of Runza in months. Yum!

A big, BIG ball!

November 22, We are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: I can't remember. Epic fail.

Kim: A massage. My mom gave me a 30 minute massage. It was the most relaxed I have been in months (and it didn't last long...both kids were sick by this point and I was sick by the next morning).

Collecting sticks for a later project.

November 23, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: Mommy & Daddy. I remembered this one. It melted my heart. Right back atcha, Kiddos!

Kim: Hanging out with my siblings. It was the first time we have all been together with time to actually hang out and talk...since last Christmas maybe. We were all together for the wedding, obviously, but it was a little hectic. I have such cool siblings (and sibling-in-law), and I thoroughly enjoyed all the time we had to just hang out.

They love playhouses...

November 25, We Are Thankful For:

You may have noticed that I skipped Thanksgiving. This was purposeful. Thanksgiving deserves its own post, I think.

Allie & Ryan: Bah! Another I don't remember! I do remember asking...

Kim: Sleep. After many nights interrupted by sick kids, I was in rough shape. Lucas let me take Nyquil and sleep in the other room. It was heavenly. Although I am still sick...

Coloring fishies!

Note: Notice the red spot on her cheek. You might think it is paint or marker, but it is actually facepaint. It was once in the shape of an N. My children love having their face painted on game day...

November 26, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Cars Underwear. Do you sense a theme? He knows what he loves...

Allie: Marvin K Mooney. Do you know the book? They discovered it at my parents' house and it is their new love.

Kim: Family. Part of the reason we went to Nebraska for Thanksgiving was to have a reception there for my brother & his wife (since a lot of family & friends couldn't make the trip to Michigan for the wedding). I have this amazing extended family that I don't get to see enough. I really enjoyed the all-too-brief time I got with them at the reception.

November 27, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: I forgot to ask...

Kim: To be honest, I was really sick this day. I was so bummed because I didn't get to enjoy the last day I had with my family. But, Ryan and I being the sickest, we stayed home from church in the morning. 1on1 time with my little man is was the bright spot in a bummer day.

FISHING!!!

(see the sticks and decorated fish! They brought the whole day together in a cool way!)

November 28, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: McDonalds & Pizza. When we travel, they get to visit their favorite places to eat (McDonalds because of the slides, and any place with pizza). Thank goodness they are so easily pleased?

Kim: A safe trip home. We were sick. I was miserable. It could have been a lot worse (remember this trip home? Not our worst by far!) I was just so relieved to be home!

Fishing Fun!

November 29, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: I forgot. Is there a fail larger than epic?

Kim: Lots of things accomplished. Still sick, but feeling overwhelmed by all of the "post-vacation-catch-up" AND holiday preparation, I plugged along slowly. Doing whatever I had the energy to do. I managed to get a lot accomplished, and this helped relieve a little of the pressure.

November 30, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: SNOW! We had our first snowfall that stuck, and the twins had a blast playing in the snow - sliding down the slide, riding their sleds, and wallowing in the snow. They also enjoyed their first taste of hot chocolate! Unfortunately, my camera battery wasn't charged so I didn't get pictures of any of it...

Kim: Angel children. Seriously, I've been sick and I was dreading how bad it might be after 10 days of multiple adults to cater to their every whim. They've been an absolute joy. Practically perfect. I'm so lucky!

And so, aside from the Thanksgiving post, another 30 Days of Thankfulness ends!

Filling the Void

2011-11-25T10:59:00.003-05:00

Those who have been around for a while may have noticed an important seasonal post that was missing this year. The beginning of football season. Normally, I show a picture of the twins showing their team spirit the opening weekend of college football. Frequently, college football is a topic of posts throughout the fall. But this fall, I haven't been able to bring myself to write a single post. Because this football season has been a bit...um...awkward?

Let's start at the beginning. Lucas and I always knew that our love and devotion for different college football teams (especially ones unfortunately linked by the sharing of a controversial national title) could be an obstacle in our marriage. But we were young, and naive, and figured it would be okay since they almost never play each other. Then came the Bowl Game of 2005. It was a trying time in our marriage, but we made it through and were thankful that it would be a long time before we had to experience that again. Then Nebraska decided to join the Big 10 Conference for the 2011 season (and every one after that). I know that I posted last year that everything would be okay, but its not. Because although our household is only divided once a season (and some seasons never, thank God!), so many of the other teams in the conference are connected to dear friends and family...and while I love them all dearly, I want my team to beat them mercilessly. It's really making things difficult...

Before the game...which is why we are all smiling!

A few months ago, my brother followed in my footsteps by similarly joining himself to another Wolverine. One with an even deeper love for the team and culture since she grew up (and her family still lives) just blocks from the Big House. So we decided - rather than allow this...situation...to cause a deeper divide - to celebrate together on the big game day. Her parents invited us to tailgate before and after the game, and we all attended to cheer on our respective teams.

Our seats were technically good...although the game rarely came to our end zone...and I'm pretty sure Nebraska turned over the ball just seconds after I took this picture...

If you watched the game, you know it was bad. We were destroyed. Michigan played one of their best games in recent history, and Nebraska played their worst. I discovered that the thrill of attending my first ever Nebraska game was quickly squashed by the humiliation of being surrounded by thousands of opposing fans. While being in the Big House was a fun experience (it is truly the only stadium, aside from Memorial, where I would ever really desire to attend a game), I think I would prefer to go when I can cheer with the crowd against the other team (Ohio State maybe?) What was more, we kept hearing things like, "is that really a mixed couple? Nebraska and Michigan together? How can you survive? You're just dating right? You're married?! It's gonna be rough when you have kids. You have kids?! You have 2?! What do you dress them in?!"

Judging by the smiles, you would think this was before the game got started, but we didn't take this picture until the last few minutes. I had clearly been resigned to our fate for a while...

The defeat was crushing. Of all the games we played this season, there were only 2 that I REALLY wanted to win. Michigan State (which we WON - haha, Logan!), and this one. If Nebraska had to join this Conference and selfishly jeopardize my marriage, couldn't they at least make it a game?). But, never a fair-weather fan, I am not crushed. We can't win every game (okay, we could, but not with this team...not yet...hopefully someday). There is always next year. At least one of our teams won. Our marriage survived another encounter...let's hope it's strong enough to survive the many seasons to come!

Note: My apologies for not including the twins. They spent the day at a friends (pictures of that day to come in another thankful post). To satiate curiosity, there had been some discussion about how to fairly divide the kids this particular game day. I decided the most fair way was to let them choose. Early in the week, Allie chose to wear "Go Big Blue" and Ryan chose "Go Big Red." I was relieved. The day of, Allie changed her mind. She was incredibly forceful, so I let her wear her Huskers outfit. Wanting to be fair, I talked Ryan into wearing Michigan clothing. So they were evenly divided in their clothing...although perhaps not in their hearts - Go Big Red!!!

Thankfuls 2

2011-11-14T18:33:00.005-05:00

November 13, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: I'm such a loser. I forgot to ask again!

Lucas: Sunday School Class

Kim: A nap. Lucas took the kids downstairs so I could get a nap. It was so needed. I was so thankful

November 14, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Penguin.

You've met him. Their giant penguin. Once upon a time he stood watch over me in the hospital, now he stands guard at the twins' door. And wrestles with him. They love this penguin.

Ryan: Bumble

His nearest and dearest stuffed friend. Our favorite thing? After seeing Lucas and I play with bumble like a puppet, Ryan has mastered helping Bumble turn his head to look at someone (usually himself) with the perfect comedic timing.

Lucas: Lunch with a local pastor (who, I happen to know from my college days!)

Kim: A clean bill of health for the twins - at their follow-up appointment for their ear infections.

Dinner - Lucas made dinner tonight. Is there anything better? Yes. He did the dishes too!

November 15, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Nana

Allie: Princess Underwear

Basically, diapers stopped working at night time. We tried the special (more expensive) nighttime diapers. We tried doubling diapers. We tried double, and then triple-stuffed cloth diapers. All worked for a little while, but eventually my super-pee-ers soaked through at night. After a week of changing, and washing, their bedding every morning, I turned to nighttime pull ups. So far, so good. And we call them "big kid bedtime underwear." The kids are through the moon that they get to wear big kid underwear!

Lucas: Getting on a roll (He has a big work week. He needs to be "in the zone.")

Kim: Our costume bin.

My friends 2 children joined us after moms' group. One is a little older than the twins, the other a little younger. I was a little worried about my ability to entertain all of them. Enter the costume bin. The kids had such a blast trying on costume, after costume. They switched costumes, and ran around in the costumes. It was great! Unfortunately, not great enough to get them all to take great naps, but I was thrilled nonetheless.

November 16, We Are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: I'm a bum. I meant to ask half a dozen times, and somehow forgot.

Lucas: The twins' basketball hoop (his favorite toy).

Kim: Potty Training Pre-requisites. Potty training is in our near future. I have been reading this book to get ready. Seriously, if there was one potty training "manual" written just for me, this is it! I'm having so much fun planning the potty parties! There are some things they suggest you do in the meantime to help them gain skills that will make potty training day easier - like un-dressing and dressing themselves. I've worked with the twins on the basics - like pulling down their pants - but I thought it would be fun to try more. I've also been letting them make decisions about their wardrobe in the morning. Today, they were both very clear about what they wanted to wear - Ryan wanted his monster truck shirt and his gecko pants. Allie wanted Ryan's "construction" shirt with her red dress and her blue leggings. Sometimes it isn't worth arguing crazy wardrobe choices... Them they undressed and dressed themselves. I stepped in to help, although rarely, and usually just to offer tips or suggestions. The result? Allie's leggings

ended up on backwards. But leggings are enough the same front and back that I decided it didn't matter. All day long, the very vivid visual picture of their growing independence made me smile!

Snow, Family, and Toasted Mud

2011-11-12T21:15:00.001-05:00

I'm such a liar. I said that I would be using the leaf pictures for a whole bunch of future posts. And then, once again, I'm not using a single one. I just didn't think through the upcoming days & the photo opportunities we would have. Now I'm wondering if I will ever get back to the leaf pictures! I probably will. There are some that are so cute!

We had our first snow! I rushed the twins out for these pictures. I love the faces we happened to capture :)

Oh, yeah...and the yellow and red you see hanging out the back of their coats...those are their Wonder Pets capes. Because you have to wear your capes when it's snowing!

November 10th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Seahorse

Seahorse was actually nowhere near her when I asked. In fact, we were heading downstairs wearing Wonder Pets capes getting ready to play, and I totally thought she would say something along those lines. But that, my friends, is how much she really loves her seahorse.

Ryan: The dump truck

Does anyone on Lucas' side remember who gave him the dump truck? I was so distracted during present time that I can't remember. But it has been THE favorite toy in our house ever since. Constantly fought over. Dearly loved.

Lucas: Small Groups.

Kim: A long nap time.

I hurt my back somehow. I don't remember the moment I hurt it, I just know that the night before, by bedtime, I could barely stand anymore. While I spent much of the day trying to come up with fun activities the twins could do while I sat in a chair that didn't involve them just sitting and watching tv all day (so I made a game out of a favorite tv show instead...). I was in so much pain by nap time that I was dreading the afternoon. The previous days this week had been full of difficult, short nap times. I just didn't have the energy. But my children slept quietly and soundly for 3 hours! It gave me enough energy to sort of recuperate...sort of...

November 12th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: Once again, I forgot. We had such a busy day, and a couple times I thought about asking, but I kept thinking, "I want them to have their whole day to reflect on." Dumb. Just ask in the moment. Otherwise I will forget!

Lucas: Game Night

Kim: Family visiting - we enjoyed a short, but fun visit from Lucas' cousin and his family. Love hanging out with them. Love them.

The kiddos playing Hungry Hippos.

The girls split off to play Candyland.

While the guys played Lucky Ducks.

Long Nap Time - always grateful when the twins decide to take a significant nap.

Game Night - Every game night leaves me so thankful for the friends we have here. We've been blessed to have such wonderful friends everywhere we have lived. When we moved here I thought there was no way we could ever have friends as wonderful as our friends in MA. I'm thankful to have been proven wrong.

November 12th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Cookies. There were no cookies anywhere nearby, so I don't know where this came from. But she was very clear about being thankful for cookies.

Ryan: Nana. It makes me so happy to see how Ryan is slowly working through the people in his life that he loves.

Lucas: Ordination - Lucas had the opportunity to go and be part of the ordination of another pastor who has played a significant role in our church in the past, and who was part of his ordination in January!

Kim: Toasted Mud - I discovered this place (via facebook) a few months ago, and have been itching to go to one of their story times. It's such a fabulous combination - great children's literature and art! We finally had an open Saturday morning that corresponded with a story time, and it lived up to all my expectations. The twins were thrilled, and I can't wait to go back!

Sitting on the stairs and listening to the story

"The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush."

With the pinch pots they made!

Painting their pinch pots.

Ryan said, "I LOVE painting," and painted slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully.

Allie said, "More paint! More! More!" and made sure hers had lots of paint.

Wonder Pets

2011-11-10T12:29:00.002-05:00

I know that I said that the leaves pictures were going to fill the next few posts...but then I took these pictures of us having SO much fun, and I decided to squeeze them in. Shake it up, and all that.

The twins recently were introduced and fell in love with Wonder Pets. Not familiar with Wonder Pets? See their page HERE and listen to the theme song HERE (the picture captions will make a lot more sense if you listen to the theme song...). I will confess that I sort of love this show too. The songs are super catchy (Lucas and I find ourselves singing them all the time), plus the twins have started singing their conversations which is adorable! Yesterday, I was emptying a can of diced tomatoes and it made me think about how the Wonder Pets use a tin can & string phone. I decided to save the cans to make a phone with the twins. It was a hit!

"The phone, the phone is ringing!"

They spent about 20 minutes talking & singing into the "phone." It was a blast!

"This is sewious!"

Suddenly it struck me that capes would make it even more fun! So I grabbed some knit tank tops from my up-cycle basket and cut them into capes. The twins were even more thrilled with this addition!

"Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! We're on our way! To help a tiny animal and save the day!"

Part of the show is that they see the animal in trouble in their tin can phone. I have a gigantic stash of magazines in the craft room, so I went through and cut out some pictures of animals to put in the phone (can you tell I was totally getting into the game?). I was so excited about this idea because I can keep putting new animals and adventures in the phone for endless options of creative play! I felt like a genius. I probably saw it somewhere else and forgot and am now attributing it to myself...

"There's an animal in trouble! There's an animal in trouble! There's an animal in trouble somewhere"

(note: this is a dog tangled in Christmas lights if you can't tell)

We spent the rest of the morning putting in new animals to save, singing the songs, and running around in capes. So. Much. Fun!

"What's gonna work? Teamwork!"

November 9th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: my comb (I was combing her hair when I asked...I should have known)

Ryan: cars jammies

Let me tell you about Ryan's Car pajamas. My mom sent them in the mail. While the twins have never seen the movie, they are obsessed with all things transportation related, so mom was pretty sure they would be a hit. They are. Too big maybe. He doesn't want to wear anything else. He has to because I cannot get them washed every day, but he wears them about every other night. And when he wears them he doesn't want to get dressed the next day. "I don't need to get dressed. I just wear my cars jammies," he tells me. They are apparently appropriate for all occasions. The only thing that will coax him out of the cars jammies that Gigi bought? The rocket shirt that Nana bought. If Ryan only had these items in his wardrobe, he would be a happy guy!

Kim: My husband helping out.

It was a long day. The kids were extra whiny. I had to kill a spider. Somehow poop got on the carpet and I had to clean it. It was one of those days. And Lucas was going to be gone in the evening, so I was on my own for bedtime and the hour leading up to it. But Lucas came home a little early, and took the kids the whole time he was home so I could relax. I'm a lucky girl :)

Lucas: Deacons Meeting.

If it kept him away in the evening so that I had to do bedtime by myself, I'm thankful that it was so great that it was his big thankful for the day!

"We're not too big, and we're not too tough, but when we work together we've got the right stuff! Go, Wonder Pets! Yay!!!!"

Thankfuls

2011-11-03T21:59:00.008-04:00

Note: I have been basically recording our thankfuls, day-by-day, for almost a week now. Why hasn't there been a blog? Because I had no pictures, and the grandparents like pictures. Today I went out and took tons. In fact, this bunch will probably provide pictures for the next few blogs. Please, don't think my children only have 1 outfit... The pictures for today are part of a sequence of the twins playing in a pile of leaves. Enjoy!

November 3rd, We are Thankful For:

Allie: Big Kid Beds & Daddy

Ryan: Big Kid Beds & Daddy

So the twins are playing their new favorite game..."naptime"...they sit in their beds and make me turn out the lights and shut the door (while I'm in the room), and they pretend to nap. They start talking about their beds, and Allie says, "Daddy made this for me." Ryan says, "Yes. He is a good Daddy." and then they start saying, "Thank you, daddy! Thank you for my bed! Thank you for your are a good daddy!" I start to tell them that Daddy is at work, and can't hear them when we hear the door open! He surprised us by coming home early, and got to hear their thanks & praise in person!

Lucas: Good conversations.

Kim: Story time with the twins. We snuggled on the couch, under a homemade quilt, on a cloudy, gloomy day, and read book after book. Could life get any better?

November 4th, We are Thankful For:

Allie: Daddy's Races

Ryan: Chuggington Book (a $1 activity book from the Dollar Store that has been his constant companion since)

Lucas: A game we can play together. He bought us some new games. 1 of them being a cooperative game (Forbidden Island) that he found. If you don't know us well, there are 2 things that you need to know. 1) We LOVE to play games. Board games. Card Games. Word Games. Any game. 2) As my younger brother once said after spending an afternoon playing Settlers with us, "They need marriage counseling to play games together." We are both super competitive, and this makes for intense game playing...and intense winning and losing reactions. Basically, we haven't had a game yet where we didn't eventually need others for a buffer (thus our monthly game nights with friends). Lucas was convinced a cooperative game would solve this problem. I was convinced that we would hate a cooperative game (A game where everyone wins and no one loses? Is there a sense of victory without a loser?). We played. We had a lot of fun and didn't fight at all. We won, and it was a blast!

Kim: Time to read. The other day, Lucas asked me if I read anymore. "Yes," I replied. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if blogs and magazine articles could really be

considered "reading." Sure, they contain great information, and they are short enough to be easily read in whatever time I have during the day. But I was an English major. My heart is in great literary works. I decided to pick up one of the many books on our shelf that I wanted to read, but never have. I selected Dickens' David Copperfield. I love it. I'm in heaven. Now I need to work on not being a book glutton and actually getting some sleep. Because this book is 806

pages long. No matter how late I stay up, I'm not going to finish it in a day...(editors note: 15 minutes before finishing & publishing this post, I finished the book!!)

November 5th, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan & Allie: Truth be told, it was a busy day & I forgot to ask them. I tried asking the next day, but they couldn't remember the day before, and I didn't want to feed them answers & pick their thankfuls for them...so I got nothin'.

Kim: Good friends. Good food. Good conversation. A Good babysitter to make it all happen :)

Lucas: So...yeah...I forgot to ask him to...

November 6th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie & Ryan: Seahorse.

They have these seahorses. I'm sure you've seen them, we see them at almost every house with kids we go to! They love them. Allie's is her baby. She has plenty of actual baby dolls, but she gives them very little attention. But seahorse is fed, read to, cuddled, tucked in, carried around, cared for better than any baby ever. We went to a friend's house this afternoon, and Allie discovered that her friend had a seahorse just like hers! Her friend wasn't as attached, so Allie spent the whole time caring for her friend's seahorse. On the way home, I asked what they were thankful for and Allie said, "My seahorse. Not E's. Hers is not mise (mine). I thankful for mise." Ryan chimed in that he was thankful for his as well :)

Lucas: Spontaneous Adventures.

Kim: The aforementioned friends. Dear friends who, when I stand knock on their door and ask to join us on an adventure (completely spur of the moment & unplanned), invite us in and offer their house as the adventure. We had great conversation, enjoyed watching our kids play together, and thoroughly enjoyed our adventure. Can someone please help me convince these friends not to move?

November 7th, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Daddy

Allie: Gigi (with whom we were skyping when I asked. Allie is very "in-the-moment" with her thankfuls.)

Lucas: Study Time

Kim: My computer!!! $30, a new keyboard, and some help from our computer guru friend (mentioned in the previous day's thankfuls...yet another reason they cannot move!), and I have a working computer again. This blog post is the first thing which I am completing on my newly working computer!

November 8th, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Leaves. We were playing outside in the leaves at the time. Like I said...in the moment!

Ryan: Little Grandma.

Little Grandma had to go to the hospital yesterday. She has been on our conversations and our prayers. Even though she hadn't been mentioned since before naptime, she was clearly in his thoughts.

Lucas: My Friend Josh

Kim: My friend Kim...who is married to Josh. Some of our dearest friends. We separately and unknowingly scheduled conversations with them on the same day! Always good to talk to dear friends.

Funniest Moment of the Last Week-ish:

I will start by saying that we are not potty training. For the first time, I actually think the twins might be ready. But we are going on a 12 hour road trip in a little less than 2 weeks, and I think I would prefer not to have newly potty-trained toddlers on that trip! But Allie has been occasionally having troubles doing the #2 standing up (oh, some day she will kill me for forever immortalizing those words on this blog!). So, after watching her grunt and push for a while to no avail, I suggested she try sitting on the potty. It worked! She sat & read her favorite book & it practically fell out of her! She was thrilled! I was thrilled! Ry-guy was thrilled. Seeing how thrilled everyone was for his sister, Ryan immediately wanted to see what he could produce on the potty. Sadly, he had already done his #2 for the morning, and had nothing left for the potty. But he got his shining moment. We called daddy to tell him Allie's exciting news, and Ryan asked to talk to him too. Keep in mind that my children, having grown up with Skype as a regular form of communication, assume that if it has any sort of a screen the other person can see them. Ryan grabbed the phone and said, "I pooping on the potty too, Daddy, see!" and he proceeded to hold the phone down so Daddy could see...if there had been a camera...which there wasn't...so I alone got the opportunity to enjoy that hilarious moment. Never a dull moment :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T21:38:00.004-04:00

Ever the activity director, I planned a day full of celebrations for the twinners. We started the morning with pumpkin oatmeal that had Halloween sprinkles on top (Note: Lucas wanted money bread, but I said that monkey bread was only for birthdays - Christmas counts since it is technically Jesus' birthday. Later, I remembered that it actually IS my cousin's birthday. I would have totally made monkey bread in her honor. Sorry, Mel. I'll remember next year!). The twins really loved the sprinkles...and have asked for them every morning since...

Before we headed out. Who taught them to always say cheese?

We had orange foods for every meal (squash, macaroni & cheese, carrots, etc.), and danced with glow sticks that I saved for the day. And then we started to get ready! I was really disappointed because it ended up being COLD, and the twins are getting over ear infections. I knew Ryan would be set, but Goldilocks' outfit was going to need some tweaking...including a hat...covering the gorgeous, blond locks that inspired the costumes! I was devastated. We ended up changing Allie's outfit completely to have something that went with the leggings. I ended up sort of loving the outfit that emerged (Allie picked most of it)

Let's go!

We were sort of excited this year because it was the first year the twins "got" the idea of trick-or-treating. They were so excited all day that they would get to go to people's houses and say the words and people would just give them candy! One time, a while back, they weren't eating their dinner well and had been cranky, but (for reasons I can't remember) I gave them some candy. Before I gave it to them I said, "You have done nothing to deserve this candy. In fact, your actions deserve the opposite. But I am giving you this candy because I love you. Getting something good when you deserve the opposite is grace. This candy is grace." I had forgotten about that encounter, but all day on Halloween the twins would say, "They will give us candy for nothing. That candy will be grace." And after one of the first houses, Allie held up her candy and said, "This is grace." I thought that was a sweet twist on Halloween - every house a picture of God's grace.

Mama bear with her babies. Sadly, we somehow didn't get a picture with Papa bear! FAIL!

We only hit houses of people we knew, and mostly just people from church. We weren't going to go to the Trunk-or-Treat again this year, but we kept hearing from families that usually went that they weren't going. So, we thought we would drive by. Sure enough, it wasn't busy at all! There were no lines, people - prepared for crowds like last year - gave the twins handfuls of candy. There were firetrucks, and police cars, cups of apple cider, and someone dressed up like a cow - all of their favorite things! We ended up being really glad we went!

Trying to get a picture by the pumpkins. They were so excited, they could barely sit still!

One thing I found interesting was the way their personalities were fully displayed during trick-or-treating. I have felt for a while now that Ryan is truly an introvert while Allie is an extrovert. Am article I read made me feel more confident of that. Halloween solidified that for me. Allie happily marched up to doors, answered all questions, reached in the bowl for candy offered, and chatted for as long as they wanted. Ryan hid. He didn't want to answer questions. He didn't want to reach in to get candy. He didn't want to stick around. He kept saying, "No more candy, Mommy. I want to go home." The Trunk-or-Treat was perfect for him because he didn't feel the same pressure as he did at someones door. Another personality trait that came out? Ryan savors while Allie devours. This frequently happens with special treats. Allie stuffs hers in her mouth and Ryan licks it to death. I found it interesting that Allie reached in and grabbed whatever candy offered, but Ryan carefully chose a sucker every time he had a choice. For Ryan, the best candy is one that forces you to savor!

The best pic of the bunch! Can you tell they are proud of their candy bags?

Overall, they clearly had fun. Tonight we had company for dinner and when the doorbell rang, Allie ran to the door and yelled "Trick-or-Treat!" She then turned to me and said, "Now they will give me candy!" Thankfully, she was understanding when I explained to her that those words only work one night of the year. The giant bag full of candy in the pantry probably helped...

Trick-or-Treating at our first house!

November 2nd, We Are Thankful For:

Allie: Papa & Gigi's special beds.

Ryan: Papa & Gigi's special beds.

Confession: before they got their big kid beds we had a rule about what they had to do at bedtime (namely not scream and fight bedtime) to earn their big kid beds. Since they got the beds, they have started to procrastinate more and more at bedtime. And they are good! Tired of the long bedtimes that end in screaming every night, and desperately searching for something to replace big kid beds as incentive, I told the twins about the special beds that Papa & Gigi got for twins for our visit in a few weeks. They were so intrigued by the beds that bedtime was a breeze. And these beds have replaced candy in their minds as the only thing they can think of!

Lucas: My beautiful wife's grace, mercy, hospitality, and garlic bread.

Kim: A fresh start.

Confession: This morning, Lucas and I had a fight. Basically, there is this time in the morning, before my coffee kicks in, where I cannot manage to be rational and tend to be grumpy & quick. It doesn't take much for a conversation to explode into an argument. I had to leave to do grocery shopping. Lucas had to go to work. We left fuming...and then calmed down...and then exchanged some loving texts where we decided to try starting the day over (note: the caffeine had kicked in!). I'm thankful for our fresh start that completely turned my day around.

Pumpkins and Thankfulness

2011-11-01T19:24:00.005-04:00

I know I've said it before, but I love pumpkins. Pumpkins are one of my favorite things about fall. We've kept up a pretty good tradition of going on adventures to get pumpkins with the

twins. We've kept the tradition going of just sort of driving along and picking them up roadside. We've also discovered that the closer you get to Halloween, the cheaper said roadside pumpkins become (they were $1 per pumpkin!). While a hayride at a big place to pick pumpkins from the field would be cool (and a fabulous fall tradition that would be totally up my alley!), I think our budget-friendly tradition will continue! One thing I was especially curious to see was which twin would hate the pumpkins this year. The first year Allie cried and wouldn't go near them. Last year Ryan cried and wouldn't go near them. This year...they both loved them!!!

Ryan running through the pumpkins. He didn't even want to pick one, just run around them!

Allie was especially drawn to their displays of pumpkins. She loved the little pumpkins and thou fun colored/shaped gourds

The kids each picked a pumpkin for themselves and a pumpkin for mommy & daddy (it was cold & starting to rain, so we rushed them a bit...). We waited until the next afternoon to carve them. Wanting to be efficient with our time, Daddy offered to start scooping out the pumpkins to prepare them for carving while I changed the twins into clothes that could get dirty. Wanting them to fully experience the grossest part of pumpkins, I asked him to wait. As a result, we only got 2 of our pumpkins carved before running out of time. Oh, well, the twins got to experience the goop. Turns out, Ryan is not a fan!

Allie had no hesitations about sticking her hands in the pumpkin to pull out the goop!

While Lucas and I carved, we let the twins dictate the look of their pumpkin - face or picture, shape of eyes and noes, smiley face or sad, teeth or no, etc. Sometimes, after we drew the shapes onto the pumpkin, they changed their mind. Thus the weird black lines. Oh, well. They were happy!

They loved looking into their pumpkins!

I have always wanted to make toasted pumpkins seeds, but never have. I loved pumpkin seeds as a kid. This year I decided there was no way I would give up and throw them out. The twins helped me separate the seeds from the bits of pumpkin innards. They LOVED this. Ryan got over his fear of goo, and they ended up splashing around in the pot of seeds with me for about 30 minutes! It was a blast!

We let them dry overnight. The next morning, the twins shook the seeds up in containers with different seasonings (we did 4 different kinds). They had so much fun!

We roasted them in the oven (this picture is pre-roasting), and they came out just in time for our mid-morning snack! The twins really enjoyed eating a snack they made. I was happy to have been so resourceful with our pumpkins. Overall, it was a smashing success!

Also, today is officially the beginning of our 30 Days of Thankfulness. Normally, The beginning of this celebration would warrant its own post, but my laptop is currently out of order, and since I don't know how long it will take me to finish the Halloween posts, let alone be able to start the Thankful posts, I decided to just include them whenever I can! Plus, I'm so excited about this year because the twins can totally participate! Granted, their "thankfuls" might be funny...or strange...but I think it is a great tradition to get them in the habit of doing, and it will be so fun having their daily thankfuls to look back on!

November 1st, We Are Thankful For:

Ryan: Candy (It's been the one thing on his mind ALL day!)

Allie: Glow sticks (we hit up CVS for 50% off treats, and the kiddos got glow sticks & were loving them)

Lucas: My beautiful wife (someone knows how to suck up to their blogging spouse...)

Kim: Coffee. Turns out Halloween (when you trick or treat, which we haven't done in a while) is exhausting. I fell asleep on the couch before 10pm, and still had trouble getting going. An afternoon pot of coffee was necessary to keep more poor family from having to deal with a complete grouch. But a cup of coffee turned my day around, and for that I am grateful!

Feeling lost when I talk about 30 Days of Thankfulness (or wanting to reminisce)? Look back at the previous years HERE and Here.

Pausing

2011-10-30T19:07:00.003-04:00

If I was going to describe the twins, our days, life right now in 2 words it would be "crazy energy." They never stop moving, and I feel like, because of that, our days speed by at an incredible pace. I was thrilled with these pictures because I felt like the way they capture just a minute of energy really depicts the overall feeling of a day in our house! Every now and then I tell myself to pause, remember, and reflect. I don't want this time to whirl by too quickly. These are a few reflections/things I want to remember:

Ryan is orange, Allie is green. I love that every now and then you catch the blurry image of their faces because they kept their glow stick close by!

Funny things they say:

They call elevators "alligators," and ambulances "antipances." I love these little mistakes that make the world so much more cute. I know there are more things they call funny names, and I'm already sad that I can't remember them all.

Ryan frequently says, "That'd be good," or "I think so. Yes, I think so." I commented to a friend that I think those are such funny phrases, and she told me I say those things a lot.

Allie also loves to say things I say, and I often laugh as I hear myself coming through her: "Yes, Ryan! Yes! That is right!" or "No, Ryan. We cannot do that. We might get hurt," or "Yay! I got it! Yay, Allie!"

Now Ryan is Blue & Orange and Allie is Green & Purple. Ryan is making a "roller coaster" with his lights and Allie is shaking them close to her face.

Sweet things they say:

For a while, they have known (and said) that Daddy goes to work to tell people about Jesus. One morning I asked them if they could tell people about Jesus. They said no, but I told them that anyone could tell people about Jesus by showing them His love. This has become an almost daily conversation of ways we can show people (and each other) Jesus' love, things that do not show Jesus' love, and how and why Jesus loves us. Most of the time it was just me talking and them saying "Yes" or "No" to my questions, but lately they will say things like: "Ryan! Don't take my toy! That is not showing Allie Jesus' love!" or "Here is a diaper for Allie, mommy! I showed her Jesus' love!" My favorite has been how this has overflowed into their tv time. There is one episode of Little Einsteins that they love, and in this episode Big Jet steals the special things they took to school for show and tell. Every time they watch it, they yell at the tv, "Big Jet, don't take those! You are not showing Jesus' love!" At the end, they get the things back and Big Jet comes to show and tell with them and is their friend, and the twins talk about how all of the characters show Jesus' love. Melt my heart.

"Thank you" They have been in a very grateful state lately. They so appreciate every little thing - from pajamas sent in the mail, to blankets made special for them, to a small toy shared, to the meal I have just made. Often their gratitude is expressed like this: "Thank you! Thank you so, so much! Thank you! Thank you!" My favorite moments have been when they have asked to specifically call someone so they can say "Thank you." Is there any way they can still be this grateful into the teenage years?

I love how you can "see" Allie run across the picture :)

Favorite things to do:

Run. They love to run. Back and forth, around in circles. They just love to run.

Play "Mommy says." You've heard of "Simon Says." It's the same idea. Except mommy says. And no one ever gets out. They just have fun listening to mommy :) I'm pretty sure its the best game I've ever played with them.

The twins are big into imaginative play right now. Their favorite things to pretend?

"Alligator" - yes, my children can spend 20 minutes pretending that they are riding an elevator (usually my closet).

"Going to the store/church/doctor" - doctor was added recently when they were sick.

"3 piggies & the wolf" - they are constantly saying "No by my chinny, chin, chin!" and we have an actual faux fur piece that they call the wolf. A favorite game is "spank the wolf." Where did this game come from? After seeing the story of the 3 pigs & big bad wolf on both Little Einsteins and Wonder Pets in the same day (a huge fluke and unfortunate accident), Ryan became obsessed with the story. 3 days later he asked me if the wolf would blow our house down (something his face told me he had been worrying about). He clearly didn't buy my spiel about our house being made of stone which was the strongest of all. So I told him that if the wolf tried to blow our house down, I would spank his bottom and tell him to stop being mean. Thus began "spank the wolf."...

"Tea Party" - nothing is cuter than watching them pretend to drink tea. Allie does the funniest flourish with her hand every time she takes a sip. Adorable!

Have we mentioned we recently acquired a piano? Every day we have at least one concert. They sometimes as us to guess what song they are playing (we are getting better at actually guessing correctly!), they always clap for themselves, and I can't get enough of their music making (they daily play the drum & recorder).

I was trying out a new technique where I would flash a light, briefly, so I could show them playing with their glow sticks. This was the best one of the bunch...

Things I Cherish:

They are so cuddly. Allie especially. She often wants to be snuggled up as close to me as possible. I cherish every hug, kiss, cuddle.

Their enthusiasm. Everything is so exciting to them. I absolutely love the way they scream, jump, and get crazy excited over the most mundane of things - finding stickers, an unusual snack, a card in the mail, socks they like. I love hearing, "Yay! Yay! Oh, my GOODness! Yay!" It makes the mundane things in my day so much more exciting too!

3 words: "I lubs you." I love that they say "lubs" instead of love. I love it when they say it to me, or to each other, or to Daddy. Another phrase I love? "I miss you." My favorite is when one of them will leave the room and the other will say, "Where's Ryan/Allie? I miss him/her. Ryan/Allie, I miss you! Come back!" I love that they can miss each other so quickly.

I told them to "Go crazy!" See this energy? This is an average day!

I love this age. In the midst of all of the running and playing and crying and laughing and craziness of my day, I really try to make myself stop and soak in little moments. It won't be long before they say everything perfectly (and correct my diction/grammar mistakes), are too cool to play pretend, and refuse to be excited over a mostly used sheet of stickers. I want to cherish every moment.

Costume Party!

2011-10-25T21:03:00.004-04:00

I know I've said it before, but I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I hate scary things. I don't enjoy being scared, and I don't like the way everyone becomes obsessed with the gory and horrifying for a month every year. It creeps me out. Plus, I really hate spiders, and you can't go anywhere without seeing them this time of year - in decoration or real life. But I love theme parties, and dressing up, and making yummy treats, and giving out candy, and seeing a whole neighborhood come together for a fun evening for the kids. If I could have those things without any of the scary, I would be fine with Halloween. So, I tend to celebrate my way - without the scary, and full of fun.

This year, I planned a costume party for our local moms' group. I hate it when we have any outfit that is only worn once, so I'm always looking for 2 or 3 opportunities for the twins to wear their costumes each year. This year, a party at our house seemed like the perfect opportunity! I also discovered something about myself at this party. 3 1/2 years of being an Activity Professional makes you an OCD party planner. I told myself that I wouldn't stress. I would decorate some cookies and have some festive plates, but that would be all. Then, the morning before, I realized that not having decorations and games and going a little over the top would give me a tick. And I spent the rest of that day (and a good portion of the night) making decorations with things I had on hand...I would have liked better, but I was happy with what we had :) And now I know to never assume I can not plan ahead for a party ever again!

My favorite decorations. They took 20 minutes to make (not including drying time), and I got to use up some of the applesauce jars that I have been obsessively saving! I kind of love them :)

We ended up having a pretty big group - 12 big kids, 2 babies, 8 parents and 1 grandparent! It was a blast...even though we didn't end up playing any of the games. That was okay, the kids are all little enough they probably would have hated the interruption in their playtime!

A few of the costumed kiddos...

And what were Ryan and Allie? Around April I was struck with the perfect costume idea - Goldilocks & the 3 bears! I was going to make costumes, but then a friend found this bear costume at a mom2mom sale for $3, and I found some items that would work for Allie in her closet :) They didn't actually know who Goldilocks or the 3 bears were, so I found this music video and showed it to them. They are obsessed now (be prepared: if you watch the video you WILL have the song stuck in your head pretty much forever).

Baby Bear

Goldilocks

The pictures were all awful because I had my camera on the WRONG setting...the entire party...and never thought to check and see if that was the reason the pictures all looked terrible. Fail. I will get better pictures on Halloween. I promise!

Another Milestone

2011-10-25T20:44:00.003-04:00

I was in no rush. In fact, in the days of the early "Bedtime Battles," I read the books of pretty much every sleep expert. Their philosophies varied widely, but they all seemed to agree that 3 was the age to transition to "Big Kid Beds." I was more than happy to follow their advice and wait. But then potty training started to become a more tangible reality, and I felt like they should be able to freely move out of bed to go to the potty. So we scheduled the switch. And then they got sick. And then we traveled. And then they got sick again. And I was secretly ok with them staying in their cribs. Until I caught Ryan trying to climb out. We made the switch the next night.

I did it exactly as I planned - we made a big deal about special "Big Kid Blankets" (handmade by Aunt Mindy & saved for this special day) to go with "Big Kid Beds," we moved their dresser out & secured the bookshelf to the wall (they are climbers after all), and we had a discussion about the rules of big kid beds (we don't climb out to play once we have laid down to sleep, we don't get up until the clock says 7:00 in the morning, etc.). I did not plan on crying when I left the room. But I turned around to say one last "I love you," and they looked so old. All that is left of their baby days are diapers (which I will actually be happy to say goodbye to!), and each milestone is so bittersweet.

In their beds with their blankets. Yes, they are eating crackers. They pretty much want to do all daily activities in their beds...

So far, the transition has been so easy that they have me almost convinced they are part angel. I'm assuming that it will be a couple of weeks from now, when the novelty has worn off, that we will have a hard time. Maybe not. They REALLY love their big kid beds and blankets! And I'm really proud of my big kids!

Hi, Cows!

2011-10-22T16:13:00.000-04:00

You might remember our last trip to see the cows...it was sort of a huge success. So, I decided to schedule a trip there this fall with the moms group. It was epic. I'm actually a little nervous about the costume party we're having this coming week because I don't think anything can top this trip.

It started out the same way as the last trip by seeing the big cows at the front. They are very friendly, and the kids were thrilled to get so close! As you can see, in the back of this picture, the encouraged the kids to hold their hands out and let the cows lick them. Their tongues are surprisingly rough. I know because I got licked by many cows while I was taking pictures and not paying attention!

"You don't even blink, do you?"

(bonus points to anyone who knows where that quote is from!)

The cows all moved in and they desperately wanted to be at the front to be pet by the kids! This picture shows the desperation of the cows in the back to get to the front!

Then we moved to see the babies.

Daddy came too!

The calves were especially friendly. They have no teeth, so the kids were encouraged to let them suck their fingers since they couldn't bite. They loved this!

I somehow missed the picture of the calf actually sucking his finger...

Then they took us to the birthing barn where we found out that if a cow has boy/girl twins, that share a sack, the girl will not have functioning reproductive organs. A random fun fact for you all. The kids also had an opportunity to pet a calf that was less than 24 hours old! Allie didn't leave his side!

They took us to see the "teenagers" again, but the kids were much more intrigued by the hay. The farm owners were fine with them climbing, so the kids spent about 20 minutes climbing all over the hay. They slept very well that night. Very, VERY well!

A group picture. The couple on the right showed us around.

We headed back to the milk house and found the milk truck there! We were just in time to see the milk pickup - including stepping over the giant hose that connected the milk tank in the milk house to the giant tank on the truck!

The kids all washed their hands, waved goodbye to the milk truck, and then had snack time! If you ask the twins, this was their favorite part of the trip...figures!

Snacking with our friend.

It just so happened that they had a combine just around the corner that wasn't being used, and they invited us all over for the kids to check it out. The field that it was in just happens to be one we pass on an almost daily basis (so we still talk about the combine EVERY time we go by...)! This was a big highlight for all of the kids.

All of the kids loved sitting in the tire. It was the perfect size of seat for them!

Each kid had a turn in the cab - pretending to drive and honking the horn! This was so exciting for them!

Ry-guy.

Allie

I told one of my friends that I really think the farm life is the absolute best life for kids - lots of time outside, lots of animals, and they learn responsibility as they help care for animals and crops. I think there is a confidence gained in having so much knowledge about animals and crops and how to grow/care for them. We are not, and I can't imagine we ever will be, called to be farmers. So I'm always looking for opportunities for them to experience farm life - to see the animals and the equipment, to meet the people who work so hard day in and day out, and to see what goes on behind the scenes to bring us things like the jug of milk in our refrigerator. This trip was the most perfect farm experience I could imagine!

Surprised by Rain

2011-10-20T09:15:00.000-04:00

You might read the title and think this is a post about the terrible weather we've had lately. It is true that our weather has been crummy the last few days, but that isn't what this is about. This story is about God's overwhelming and uniquely refreshing faithfulness.

We've shared bits and pieces of the story along the way - of loss and hope, of a call and our response, and even a fundraising update. But to be honest, the theme of the last 10ish months has been "How on Earth Will this Ever Happen?"

Because adoption is expensive. We're talking a little over 3/5 of Lucas' annual salary expensive. And we are not people who have that kind of money lying around. We only had a rough idea of what the expenses were when we first started praying about adopting (in all honesty, I kind of assumed we would end up adopting domestically because it would be more realistic financially). I remember praying, "God, if you really want us to adopt, please let us have $7,000-8,000 by the end of our 6 months." That amount in that short of time seemed pretty enormous to me, and would truly confirm both our calling to adopt and God's providence. 3 1/2 months later we had $8,500 in our account. Wow. We were over the moon. This was it! The same week we hit that mark, we discovered an agency with a program with the country that had been on our heart all along. We were ready to fill out our application that day! God had answered all our prayers! But, we had committed to 6 months of prayer and preparation. "We should stick to that," I insisted "We don't want to miss God doing something amazing because we rushed a timeline we set." 2 weeks later, we sat down and looked at the specific costs of the specific program with our specific interests in mind (we'd really like to adopt 2 children). The actual cost was so much more than we thought that a part of us truly despaired actually ever having the money to make it a reality.

For me, it was almost a crisis of faith. My head said, "The amount of money may have changed, but God didn't. He can give $80,000 as easily as he can give $8,000. No amount is too big for Him." But I found my heart almost whispering, "It's ok, God. This is big, and I know there really isn't a feasible way to bring this amount of money in. It's ok if you can't do this. We will be patient until it can happen. I understand. It's just too big." I felt ashamed that I felt this way, but, as I told one person, "Money would basically have to rain from heaven for us to even have the portion of the cost we would like to have before we apply." And the reality was that I truly didn't believe it could happen.

And then I felt a sprinkle.

It started slowly. We put out a request for donations for a yard sale, and not only was there an overwhelming response, the sale also brought in way more than we ever expected! And then money started coming from really unexpected places - a check from the hospital that double-billed us, gifts from unexpected places, accounting errors. It was incredible. At one point, Lucas said to me, "It feels like money is raining down from heaven." He never knew I said that to someone else, and when my words came back to me I started to cry. In my heart, I knew that it really was.

And then Lucas remembered his airline rewards that he has been collecting for years. After many calls to Delta to go over and over how it all works, how many reward points we need, ways to get extra points, an incredible offer where Delta matched all points gifted, and generous friends who gifted significant amounts without hesitation, we feel confident we have enough points to cover our tickets round trip, and tickets for our children to come home! That is about 1/3 of the budget! And, the amount it covers added to the amount we have in the adoption savings account equaled almost exactly the amount we had as our goal for application.

I am overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God despite my complete lack of faith. I lost sight of how big God is, and believed that the cost of what He was calling us to do was too much for Him to provide. I sing this song to the kids almost daily, but these past few months have been a very tangible reminder of how great our God really is!

So we sent in our application. In fact, we have signed all the consents and contracts, sent in our first agency fee, and have our program orientation next week! At one point we couldn't imagine being in this place for at least a year, probably 2. It feels a little surreal to be here now.

There is still a lot ahead. We have been told that from application to bringing your child(ren) home it takes about 18-24 months. Potentially more. I keep trying to imagine what life will look like in this time in-between - home studies with a social worker, getting all of our documents together to send overseas, the business of preparing and then the unbearable still of waiting to be matched, our trip there, and our incredible trip home. The one thing I know I can count on? More fundraising. Seriously, we still have a significant chunk to pull together in the next 18-24 months! But the one thing I really know I can count on? God, who will provide according to our needs and His purposes in His perfect timing.

Fall Fun Up North

2011-10-15T12:33:00.006-04:00

Total side note: the twins' favorite show is Little Einsteins. It just so happened that the episode they watched this morning was set at the Great Lakes. Specifically Lake Huron (Nana & Poppy's lake where we just were), and the Mackinac Bridge! Usually they recognize things in their everyday life because they saw it first on Little Einsteins. It was fun, for a change, to have them recognize something on Little Einsteins because they just saw it in real life! I think it made them feel like part of the show :)

OK, back to the story at hand. One of the things we have been looking forward to forever has been a trip to the awesome orchard while Up North. We finally got to go!

There were these crates where they were dumping what was leftover of the apples after they were pressed for cider. I thought it looked cool and textural, so I took a picture. This ended up being the last picture I took the entire trip because my battery died and I forgot to pack the charger!

We tagged along with a preschool field trip, and they explained that the cider leftovers are saved to use as animal feed. I was excited to hear it didn't go to waste. They make use of everything! They invited the kids to touch it.

Allie jumped right in!

Ryan needed to be encouraged by Daddy.

After an educational talk (where the twins had their first ever taste of cider), we went on a wagon ride to the orchard.

In the wagon!

They each had the opportunity to pick an apple from the orchard (lift & twist!). Due to some camera confusion, we didn't get pictures of the picking...

Ry-guy shows off his apple.

Allie hiding under the tree to eat hers.

The wagon ride continued through the orchard and the pumpkin patch and ended at the petting zoo & play area.

Hi, goats!

All aboard!

The biggest hit ended up being this plane. They loved driving...and riding...and offering rides to the other kids (Ryan could be heard saying, "Come on, kids! Sit down! We go for a ride!" They still talk about this plane the most of anything from our trip!

For me, the most exciting thing was seeing a bald eagle! I saw another on the drive home! I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild ever in my life until this summer, and then 2 in 1 weekend! Too cool.

"Cool" bus indeed :)

During nap time, Daddy & Poppy created a leaf pile, and the kids spent the rest of the afternoon jumping and playing in the leaves. Classic fall fun!

My only complaint about our trip Up North: Too Short! We were trying so hard to fit in all the fun things we had been saving to do that the time went way too fast :(

Poppy's Boat

2011-10-14T09:09:00.000-04:00

I don't know if we've ever mentioned this, but Poppy works on a boat. A giant boat. We went to visit Nana & Poppy while he is off the boat, and he took us to see his boat, to see what it's like to go through the locks, and even to see where he gets the mail we send!

Watching another boat in the lock while we waited for Poppy's boat.

"It's a boat alligator (elevator)!"

Poppy's boat!!!

(disclaimer: this isn't Poppy's actual boat...but it looks the same)

After watching it go through the lock, we went ahead so we could see it sail by.

Allie knew how to keep busy while we waited!

Then the twins found the giant anchor (I think it is actually what the anchors look like on Poppy's boat, but it just looked like a giant replica of the little anchors we have seen)

Playing on the anchor.

And then it came by!

Then we went up to the fountain, and the twins had fun playing up there.

Throwing in some coins.

"Isa ladybug!"

On the way back, we took a detour for a scenic view of "Mighty Mac." It was a little hazy, but it was still amazing to see...and then drive over. The twins have officially seen and experienced more of Michigan than I have!

Happy Birthday, D!!

2011-10-13T15:55:00.000-04:00

Continuing the tradition of forgetting my camera...I totally missed an entire weekend full of our college homecoming! It was Lucas' 10 year reunion! We had so much fun! And I have no pictures to record the fabulous memories. Sad bear. Then...because I spent about 2 weeks completely forgetting my camera (and therefore taking no pictures) I forgot that I had my camera to take pictures at D's birthday party.

Thankfully, Lucas reminded me about the camera just in time to get pictures of the most important part - the cupcakes! The twins are obsessed with cupcakes. To them, a party must always have cupcakes and cupcakes always mean a party.

Lighting the candle...and then she tried to grab the flame...and then they decided not to light the candle!

She really wasn't sure about the cupcake...

The twins did not share her reservations!

It's so hard to believe an entire year has gone by since meeting Baby D! She is such a sweet girl, and a treasured addition to our family!

And...she likes it!

Happy Birthday, D!!

Goin' to the Fair!

2011-10-12T21:29:00.003-04:00

I always know I have been very absent when I go to download pictures and I don't have a folder yet for the month...almost 2 weeks into the month! Needless to say, we have been busy! I've already spent about an hour downloading, organizing, and (barely...due to time) editing pictures, but I have little to show for the effort. Still, in an effort to catch up (and satiate the grandparents' desire for updates and new pictures), here are the pictures from our not-so-recent trip to the fair!

This particular fair is near and dear to my heart. I attended this fair every year of college. It claims to be the "Most Popular Fair on Earth"...I can't help but wonder if that is really true. Although it truly is the best mix I have ever seen of rides, midway, and animals. Most fairs I have been to either lean toward animals or midway, but this one is fairly even (no pun intended...).

The twins and I spent a morning earlier in the week, with a friend and her girls, seeing the animals, but we promised a trip back to ride the rides. BIG mistake. The weather of fair week is traditionally (at least according to MY memory) cold and crummy, and this year was no exception. We held off until Friday, the last day we had available to go, and wanted to cancel due to the weather, but the twins woke up asking "Go to the fairy? Ride the rides? I wanna ride the dinosaur. I wanna ride the merry-go-round like Great Schubert!" Not only did they not forget, they connected the fair (which they constantly referred to as the "fairy," and I never corrected because it was so cute!) to a favorite Little Einsteins episode, but they scoped the rides during our quick walk-by earlier in the week. They picked out the rides they remembered from the show, as well as a few (such as the dinosaur) that they spotted that I didn't even see. They spent the whole day claiming their right to go to the fair (I promised if they slept well we would go...they didn't make a peep). So we went. It was cold. It was wet. They had a blast. Sadly, I forgot my camera. These pictures from my phone will have to do...

The Merry-go-round. Great Schubert's favorite ride...and Allie's!

The bumblebee ride. They loved going up and down. Unfortunately, it was POURING during this ride!

Driving the boats ("Like Poppy!"). We were just thankful for a covered ride.

The dinosaur ride that Ry-Guy spotted from afar and didn't forget. Notice the sunshine. The rain stopped and the sun peeked through the clouds for this one ride!

After rides, we went to check out the animals. Partly because they were in buildings that provided shelter from the rain. Partly because we actually didn't see all of the animals when we went to the fair earlier in the week!

"Hi, duck!"

Baby Chicks

Allie checking out the chickens.

Ry-guy securing his balloon (way more important than any animals).

On our way out (like, Lucas was actually sitting in the parking lot waiting for us to come out), the kids got to pet 2 baby calves! They were so excited!

Fall Has Arrived

2011-09-28T07:14:00.000-04:00

I know I have posts every year extolling the virtues of fall, talking about how much I love the fall, and showing dozens of pictures of fall adventures. This year will be no different. We started a bit late, however, because we were sick the week that fall started!

On Sunday, the cousins came down for church and an afternoon at Triple F! The big highlight of the day was seeing the elephant that they have there every fall on Sunday afternoons (that we've always somehow managed to miss seeing). The best part about Triple F? You can enjoy a whole afternoon for free! Granted, there is a lot of fun stuff to do that requires money (elephant & pony rides, carriage ride, corn maze, etc.), but if you don't want to spend money, you don't have to :)

Looking at the ponies.

They had the pumpkins lined up...so my children, of course, had to run through them. This entertained them the longest of anything!

Look at his face! So intense. He kept saying, "I go so, so, so fast!"

Pausing for a quick hug.

Baby D decided to get in on the action.

I wanted a picture of them on the hay with the pumpkins. Allie decided to add her own comedic spin...

Ryan quickly followed suit!

They have this great store full of beautiful items - new, antique, and classic. I LOVE this shop (although, I never buy anything...I want everything...). And I don't just love this shop because it is connected to the candy shop and BAKERY! It smells so good in there. SO good.

Ryan playing with an antique cash register.

They have a beautiful porch with a seating area and a porch swing that the kids loved.

Ryan pushing the girls.

Allie giving Ryan a turn.

Of course, the main attraction was the elephant (which we went over to see a few times). Once rides were over and it was time to pack up, her owner kept her busy by feeding her snacks. You can't see it in this picture, but they were feeding her whole watermelons. She would pop them in her mouth and eat them like they were grapes! She also ate a whole pumpkin in about 3 bites. Every now and then, for the enjoyment of the (small) crowd, they would have her trumpet!

"That elephant is loooouuuud!"

We had so much fun on our first fall adventure with our cousins! We're looking forward to many more!

P.S. In case you missed it in the assortment of links that look back to the past above, you can see the cousins last trip to Triple F HERE. We were waiting for Baby D to be born :)

Parade!

2011-09-26T09:23:00.003-04:00

Last week, a friend let us know that it was time once again for the local homecoming parade. We went last year, and had a blast, but the kiddos were sick last week and we didn't know if we would end up making it. Fast forward to Friday 4:23 pm. Lucas calls to ask if we are still going to the parade (it starts at 5:00). We were enjoying our first day with everyone finally feeling better (and by enjoying, I mean we were all having a lazy day in our pajamas because we finally felt good enough to enjoy it!). But we had so much fun last year... 17 minutes later we were all dressed, Lucas was home from work, and we were running out the door. 22 minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot to meet up with all our friends. We made it with time to spare! I've never dressed us all that quickly!

Picking up candy - this parade had GOOD candy, and tons of it! We ended up with more than we have collected from any other parade we have attended!

Our friend, B, was in the parade, and he was so excited to throw candy to us!

It wasn't long before Ryan just wanted to eat his candy (note: he picked the most random piece of candy of them all to want!)

Allie - who had already been a little street cleaner with the candy and collected tons - started to see if her generous friends wanted to give her more!

The twins' favorite part of the parade (besides the candy) were the fire trucks! I didn't keep an exact count, but I feel confident there were about a dozen rescue vehicles! They were half the parade!

Collecting their plunder. Daddy was so proud!

We ended the evening with dinner out with friends (totally spur of the moment), and then the guys took the kids home for the moms to have a spur-of-the-moment girls night out! So glad we got dressed, it turned out to be such a great evening!

Haircuts

2011-09-23T15:24:00.002-04:00

You might have noticed lately that I've let Ryan's hair get pretty long. I just loved those curls! But it was getting to a point where I needed to "style" it for it to look nice...and was occasionally just hiding it with hats...and I knew I needed to give in and cut his hair!

We forgot to take a "before" picture. But this is from the cousin photo shoot...a few weeks before the cut!

The big deal was that I decided to buy a clipper kit (that I spied a while ago and was waiting for it to go on sale!!!). My freshmen year of college I made extra money by cutting guys' hair in my dorm lobby. I ended up giving that kit away when I stopped cutting hair. A bummer since it was definitely better than the one I got. But it suits our needs. The good news is that, even though it had been 9 years since my last hair cut (with clippers...I've cut Ryan's hair a couple times with just scissors), I still remembered how to use it!

Between an Elmo movie & the cool clippers he enjoyed the haircut!

See how much is on the cape?

I also decided that Allie was going to have her first haircut. In general, I haven't felt a need to cut her hair. I love those curls! But, the tangles at the end were starting to get too difficult to comb through, and I thought a trim might solve the problem...

Posing for her "before" picture.

She was great. The cut went fast. She was incredibly thrilled to be getting in on the hair cutting action!

The only problem is that I accidentally cut more than I intended (I was trying to get a decent sample to save...), and I accidentally layered it more than I wanted. I planned the haircut out ahead of time, but got preoccupied with saving hair and my plans totally flew out of my head! The biggest problem being that her sweet curls actually curled up more once they were shorter, and now she has a bob that sticks a little closer to her head...still cute. And it made a huge difference when I comb her hair after a bath/shower - mission accomplished!

The "after" pictures. We forgot to get one of Allie, but she posed for a quick picture as I was writing this post! I've been told that you can't really tell a difference, but if you look up at the other picture you can tell there is some volume gone. I feel like there is a HUGE difference...but I spend a lot more time each day with these curls :)

Ry-guys haircut made the biggest difference though. He immediately looked older. He loves it. For a full 24 hours he giggled every time he looked in the mirror! I can't get over it. I keep touching his hair (or lack thereof), and I'm in awe of how much it changed his appearance. I feel like he officially lost any "baby" look that he had left. If I had known that 10 minutes with the clippers would take my baby away, I probably would have put it off longer!!!

Now Lucas wants to see if I can cut his hair...He's far more picky than the twins, so I'm a little unsure. But, I always hate when he gets a haircut (they cut it too short, I love his curls too!), so I might like the opportunity to have a little more control...and perhaps he will be consider not cutting it so short when he knows he can ask his barber for a trim anytime he wants!

A Not-So-Fun First

2011-09-13T22:02:00.003-04:00

**UPDATE**

This morning, Ryan is RUNNING!! He still says his foot hurts, but clearly not enough to keep him down:) YAY!

Today we experienced an unfortunate first. Ryan's first x-rays.

My day started nicely. Lucas let me sleep in. The twins woke me up sweetly. Lucas told me Ryan wouldn't come unless he was carried because he said he hurt his foot. I assumed he stepped on a toy (that's how I regularly hurt MY feet!), and didn't think much of it. It wasn't until after baby music time, an hour later, when he chose to stay in his crib with his books rather than come play with Sis, that I realized I never put him down between me waking up and baby music time. I had no clue what the extent of his injured foot was. It took about 30 seconds for me to figure out. I tried putting him down and he cried and wouldn't put his foot down. When I asked him to take a step, he sweetly did, and fell over, and cried. Lucas and I went over the whole morning, and while he felt there was a specific activity (penguin wrestling) that could have led to an injury, Ryan NEVER cried. And then I had to call the pediatrician and tell them my son wouldn't walk and I didn't know why. I felt like the worst mom ever.

We couldn't get an appointment until the afternoon, so we propped up his foot and let him watch movies. Allie commiserated with him :)

After examining him (throughout which he constantly smiled & never cried, even when we could tell it was hurting), she sent us for x-rays to see if it was a fracture. We headed to the hospital (where employees marveled over my cheerful children, and re-assured me that they see many toddlers with similar injuries who don't cry) for this unfortunate first. Ryan was great. He thought the x-ray machine was so cool. He would hold his leg exactly like the technician told him. She said he was the best kid they had ever. I was so proud. Then she gave him some stickers (including a few for sis)!

He proudly wore all 3 stickers the rest of the day...and asked me to save them on a piece of paper!

Lucas actually needed to do some pastoral visits at the hospital, so the twins and I hung out. We rode the "alligator" - their most favorite adventure thing to do. We checked out EVERY stuffed animal in the gift shop. We bought a couple of the mini-balloons. We hung out in the lobby and cheered up people going by. The twins basically thought they were back at the carnival. I wouldn't have been surprised if Ryan told me that THIS was the best day ever. We know how to do x-rays right!

Hugging their balloons - sunshines & smiley faces...more favorites!

While our hospital visit ended up on a good note - I felt the best possible of all x-ray resulting circumstances - our trip home ventured into the bizarre. Our power was out. And I panicked because the doctor was supposed to call, but our answering machine wasn't working, and I might have missed it, and therefore wouldn't know if my baby was broken until tomorrow (can you hear the hyperventilation I was experiencing?). Then our ancient, corded phone on the wall rang, and it was the doctor, and I was able to relax and focus on finding food for my family!

"I lubs you, Buddy."

She was so good to him all day - picking up toys, giving him the best nap spot, offering hugs.

The x-rays cams back negative. That could mean 2 things: 1) soft tissue injury (deep bruise, slight sprain, etc.) or 2) hairline fracture (which frequently don't show up on initial x-rays). The next 48 hours will tell us which it is. If it is a soft tissue injury, it will be significantly better in 48 hours. If it is a fracture it will be the same/worse. So we wait. He limped around for a few minutes as I was talking on the phone with the doctor and we were ecstatic. Then he returned back to his non-weight bearing status (although significantly more whiny). So we'll see what tomorrow brings!

It Makes Me Want to Cry

2011-09-12T17:50:00.002-04:00

After the carnival, the twinners wanted to play outside. They were riding bikes in the driveway, Lucas was unloading things from his car. The next thing I know, I turn around to see this:

They snuck in through a door left open, and Ryan was taking them off on an adventure! It totally made me think of This commercial. I snapped a quick picture (with my phone, thus the poor quality), thinking "This is the picture I will post on their 16th birthday!" Then I pictured them sitting in that car as teenagers - excited to enjoy their freedom by driving alone for the first time to hang out with their friends. I know that I will look at them then, thinking of this day, and feel like I just blinked and they were suddenly this old.

Slow down, sweet babies! Don't grow up so fast!

Carnival

2011-09-11T08:57:00.006-04:00

Yesterday our church hosted its second annual Community Carnival. You might remember last year...it rained...buckets. This year there was rain in the forecast, but it actually turned out to be the most perfect weather! It was a truly fun day...even better because we got to spend it with many of the people in the community we have come to know through some of these events this past year!

Now...this post could have been titled "Firetrucks & Ambulances" because, to my kids, that was what the carnival was really about. The obsession with all things firetruck related led to us getting a firetruck book on our most recent trip to the library (the most awesome firetruck book I could think of - kids pretending to be fire fighters, real firefighters showing up & letting them explore the fire engine, a quick lesson on what to do in a fire - it has everything!). Daddy told them, after reading the book one night, that they would get to see REAL fire trucks up close on Saturday, and this has been ALL they have talked about the rest of the week. They even woke up Saturday morning saying, "We go see firetrucks now?" So this was, of course, our first stop at the carnival.

Exploring inside.

They could access more places inside the ambulance though (and the paramedic, desiring that they feel excitement and familiarity with the ambulance should they ever have to ride in one, let them explore & push buttons to their hearts content), and Ryan loved to sit in the front and "drive."

Another favorite stop was the balloon animal/face painting tent. I desperately wanted them to get their faces painted (how cute would those pictures have been??!!), but they only wanted balloon animals. They are still loving on their balloon dogs.

They played lots of games...even ones that were too hard for them...but they ended up with almost 50 tickets to split between them for prizes!

Duck pond!

Yes...this fell down with her on it about 3 seconds after I snapped this picture. She was fine. The game completely broke...

Which is why Daddy had to hold it up for Ry-guy here.

Allie getting instructions on how to bowl with a coconut (side note: she listened & it helped!)

There was also a bounce house (which they played in 3 times, but because there were always so many other little kids in there, I didn't climb in to get pictures), and a fun slide/house/climbing wall combo for toddlers that was recently given to our church! We spent plenty of time there :)

And then BACK to the firetruck & ambulance (we went there 3 times!)

We stayed until cleanup (it ended up being about 3 hours!), and the twins clearly thought they were in heaven. Every time I would suggest something new, their eyes would light up and they would give me these looks like they couldn't even believe so much fun could exist in one place. At one point Ryan said, "This is the best day ever" - a phrase he picked up from who knows where...but I think it was true!

Running to the van when it was over with their arms full of prizes :)

SUCH a fun day! Bonus: they slept VERY well last night!

Cousin Candids

2011-09-07T21:16:00.005-04:00

For a while, we have wanted to get a picture of all of the cousins from Lucas' side together. It isn't like we are incredibly far apart, but somehow it has never worked out. But now one cousin is moving to Texas (insert big sob here), and it became one of those "we-will-do-whatever-we-have-to-do-to-make-this-happen." kind of things. Thankfully, Lucas' sister & Baby Handsome were up for a few days and it ended up not being too difficult to make it work!

Since having kids I have discovered that I kind of hate the perfect, studio pictures of kids. The process of photographing kids can be crazy and frustrating. It is always entertaining. While it is nice to have some of those perfect, beautiful pictures, I enjoy clicking away and capturing (and sharing) some of the not so perfect moments. I've shared them before, and here are some more! The fabulous outtakes from our photo shoot with the cousins this weekend :)

Heading out to the van to go to the park. I couldn't get them to walk in a straight line...the twins just sort of dragged H along...

"We're going to get our pictures taken!"

I thought it would be really cool to climb to the top of the play structure to get a picture of all of the cousins lying down and looking up. It started out ok...

...and then we added in the youngest cousins...still going ok...

...and then it all fell apart. There wasn't a single decent photo from this angle! Fail!

We decided to try a park bench. Once again, we put the oldest 3 on first (since they did the best job of sitting still while we situated the other 2). This time, Ry-guy was not happy to be waiting...

I love Allie's "Blue Steal" look in this picture!

Then we thought the stair steps on the play structure would be a fun place for a picture.

Setting up the picture...

Yay! We're all having SO MUCH FUN!!!

Aaaaaand we're gone!

After a weekend of 90 degree temperatures (which Mindy & I sweated out having a joint garage sale!), it ended up being 54 degrees the morning of the photo shoot. We were pulling out warm clothing, jackets (to cover the warm clothing we had carefully selected), and blankets to keep Baby Handsome warm! Craziness.

We wanted a picture of the boys together. I got a dozen pictures of Ryan face down or covering Hugsy...but I deleted them! So not like me...so here is one of the actually decent pictures of the boys (but not the one I thought was THE best, since that would be so contrary to the character of this post)!

And then one of the girls. We actually wanted them in the middle of the bridge facing out at us...they wanted to be by the edge. So then we thought they could stand with their backs to the edge, and I would get pictures from the other side. Nope. They wanted to play peek-a-boo over the edge. So we went with it!

Come back Baby D!

When she says, "Look over here!" where exactly do you think "here" is?

I wanted to get a picture of the kids on the bridge. Of course, it had to be a running photo. That's all my kids will do! I love how Allie is practically dragging Ryan down the bridge. That's sisterly love...

We did get some great pictures. Frame-able ones even! An impressive feat considering all 5 are 2 & under! The cousins had fun together (we let them play on the slides in between pictures), and we were relieved to get picture of the Fab 5 before 1 moves far, far away (insert another giant sob). I just love having these fun memories on film (or in digital files on the computer...). The smiles, the tears, the craziness, the candid cousins :)

Imitating Uncle Duck

2011-08-27T21:38:00.002-04:00

This past week we visited the home of Lucas' Uncle & Aunt. While there, the twins met "Uncle Duck" - his uncle's (incredible) impression of Donald Duck. Ry-guy loved it. Not one to ever miss a comedic crowd-pleaser, Ryan has been practicing his impression ever since. Here is a short video of his progress (taken on my phone). You might need to turn your volume up to hear his quacking :)

Let's Pretend

2011-08-26T11:39:00.002-04:00

My kids love to play dress up. Until recently, our dress up bin consisted of several princess dresses, sparkly shoes (some with heels), lots of play jewelry, and a couple hats (some animal left over from their birthday party, and some purchased from goodwill...most girly). Ry-guy never minded dressing up in the princess dresses & shoes, but I felt badly. We needed variety! We have to be able to pretend we are something other than a princess!

Then I stumbled upon a jackpot of costumes (Halloween costumes. Only worn once. Some never worn) on craigslist!! Fire fighter, pirate, frontier, dragon, construction hat & lion mask! Yay! I couldn't even save them until Christmas because I knew they would love them so much! And they did!

My little firefighters

(firetrucks & ambulances are big in our house so I knew this would be the favorite!)

I had to move both of our full length mirrors so they could each look at themselves in their new costumes without fighting over a mirror. Ryan couldn't stop looking at himself. I asked him if he liked how he looked as a firefighter. Without turning away from the mirror he said a confident (full-of-awe sounding), "Yes." So much more creative play happening in our house! But I can't go into anymore detail because I have to go and mediate a fight over pink princess heels...

As the Dust Settles

2011-08-23T07:16:00.000-04:00

In a wildly fast 10 days we had my brother's wedding, VBS, a new outreach at church, and

another yard sale to raise money for the adoption. During this time we had no less than 12 people stay at our house at some point - the most at once being 6. As you can imagine, it was a 10 days full of fun, friends, family, & frenzy. Yesterday, everyone left, and we are attempting to regroup as the dust settles. The house (immaculate - or as much as my house will ever be - before everyone arrived) is a bit of a disaster. The yard sale needs to be packed up. Schedules for the upcoming year need to be planned and set (for ministries, etc.). Websites need to be

updated. And I have a million other projects I want to tackle.

But last night we decided to simply enjoy the beautiful weather outside together.

The Wedding

2011-08-22T08:13:00.000-04:00

And now for the post you've all been waiting for: The Wedding. (some pictures were shamelessly stolen from my cousin's facebook page!)

My husband and brothers waiting for the bride.

Everything was beautiful. Inspired by the peacock feathers - the colors were rich, vibrant, and elegant. The boutineers (which I ended up pinning on - the groomsmen had no clue how terrified they should have been as I pinned them!) were small peacock feathers, and the girls also wore feathers in their hair. I loved the way the feathers and colors were woven throughout so many details of the wedding without it being theme-y at all!

Walking down the aisle!

Lucas officiated the wedding (he is now only 1 wedding away from marrying each of our siblings!). He talked to them about 1 Corinthians 13 - which has, unfortunately, become cliche at weddings. He said that so many pastors say, "Try your hardest to be this," but that is impossible. As imperfect people we can never live up to that example. But, that is the perfect definition of God - patient, kind, never keeping a record of wrongs, enduring all things, never failing. If we try in a marriage to live up to the example we will always fail & frustration will ensue. If we keep God as our focus, and His perfect love, it will flow over into our marriage. When the other fails, our forgiveness & love will be more readily given as we remember the One who always loves & forgives us when we fall short.

The weather is always an important factor in an outdoor wedding. As the bridesmaids came down the aisle, little sprinkles began to fall. It lent the perfect amount of drama to the moment, but all droplets stopped when the bride walked to the front. As they began to recite their vows, the clouds parted & the sun broke through - shining brightly on them. And when they kissed, a boom of thunder (the only I heard the entire morning) rolled in the distance. A movie couldn't have had weather as perfectly on cue!

Playing on the practice green with daddy while waiting for pictures.

We love to run!!

A daughter gained to happy parents :)

The reception was fabulous. My favorite touch: They each picked their favorite books and at the center of each table was a book cake with the title & explanation of why it was one of their favorite books. I wished I had thought of it myself! Nerds after my own heart :)

Twinners with Uncle Matt (don't ask about Allie's face...it's what she did when I told her to smile!)

Posing with their uncle and newest aunt!

I mentioned family in a previous post, and I really enjoyed watching my kids play with the kids of my cousins at the wedding. Once upon a time, my 20 some cousins and I ran around & played together at family gatherings. Then we all of the sudden grew up, and now our children run around and play together at family get-togethers like this. It is some kind of awesome to sit next to the people you love & played with growing up and watch the next generation run around together.

We managed to stop the running long enough to line them up for a picture. This is only a fraction of the kids from a small fraction of my cousins!

My mom's mom with all the great-grandkids present - only about half!

My Dad's parents (and me) with their great-grandkids (the benefit of being the oldest grandchild is that your kids can be the first greats!)

I will confess that it all seemed a little surreal. I would stop every now and then and look at my little brother (who I still can picture jumping around in his underwear pretending to be a Ninja Turtle, and who is frozen in my brain as a high school freshmen sleeping in the chair outside my room so that he doesn't miss saying goodbye to me before I leave for college.), and think "my little brother just got married." It is sometimes so hard for me to believe that we are grown up! I'm so proud of him & the incredible man he grew into. I love Ariel and couldn't have hand-picked a more amazing girl for my brother. Their joy is so apparent, and we are so happy for them.

Congratulations, Nic & Ariel!!!!!

A Cautionary Tale

2011-08-21T15:44:00.003-04:00

This is a story about what NOT to do before your brother's wedding.

DON'T decide that you are going to make all of your clothes. Even if you have the cutest patterns for a dress for your daughter; pants, vest & bow tie for your son; and a dress for you...unless you have hours of free time and are able to finish the outfits well before the wedding, it is probably more stress than it is worth.

Before the wedding in the outfits they ended up wearing.

When you plan on taking your sewing machine on the 2-week vacation you will be taking right before the wedding in order to finish the 3 outfits you decided to make & it breaks at midnight the night before you leave. Give in. Buy clothes. DON'T press on determined to make the clothes in the 10 days you will have before the wedding, after you get your machine fixed, while you are also preparing for VBS & a fundraising yard sale happening the week after the wedding. It will probably end up being more stress than it is worth.

Looking down. The flower in Allie's hair was supposed to be an embellishment on my dress...

3 days before the wedding, even when you have the perfect shoes (purchased on clearance) to match your daughter's dress, it is a bad idea to START making the dress. Even if you are able to finish it that night. Because when it turns out to be 2 sizes too big you will not have enough time to do the necessary alterations (and also make the pants, vest, bowtie, and dress you still have left to make). Give in. DON'T persist in making the clothes. It is definitely more stress than it is worth.

Giving each other a hug (notice the shoes on Allie that started it all)

DON'T wait until 2 days before the wedding to go shopping for the outfits the majority of your family will wear. You probably won't find anything in the stores (that, by this point, have completely switched seasons and only have cold weather clothing...which is not appropriate for an outdoor wedding in August...), and will end up having to buy fabric to make last-minute alterations to clothing that you already own. Cost-effective...sure. Satisfying...not so much. More stress than it's worth...most definitely!

And now a kiss...

IF you manage to find a dress, 2 days before the wedding, that you love. That you love even more that the dress you designed in your head and bought the perfect fabric for. DON'T leave said dress at the nail salon after purchasing it. And make sure that you show the dress to as many people as possible when you get home so that if you do leave it behind, you realize it sooner than the night before the wedding at 11 pm. Otherwise, you will accidentally wake your sleeping parents up the night before the wedding when they need their rest only to find out the dress is not in their car. And your mother-in-law will end up making an emergency trip to the nail salon before the MORNING wedding. The nail salon will not be open, and your loving and generous mother-in-law will end up going to the store and buying yet another of the dress you love (thank goodness one of the 2 they had left will be in your size) only to get a call on the way to the wedding that the nail salon does have the dress. And now you will have 2 of this dress that you aren't so sure you love anymore. It will cause way more drama than necessary the morning before the wedding. All because you were determined to make your clothes. And it will be far beyond more stress than its worth!

He pulled away from the previous kiss, so she pulled him in for a decent smooch!

The moral of the story? If your brother...or sister...or anyone in your family is getting married. Know months in advance what you will be wearing and make sure it is all ready to go and laid out days before the wedding!

(alterations made the night before the wedding: Ryan's long-sleeve dress shirt was turned into a short sleeve, the red pocket square on his vest was removed and some cloth matching his sister's sash sewn in, A flower & bow combo cut off Allie's dress & the existing sash covered with fabric that matches the flower, a flower cut off a lace flower garland & glued to a clippie for her hair)